Customer Reviews

Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you've been asked to gather qualitative research but you've never gathered qualitative research before, then this is the book for you. Unlike other qualitative research books that often focus more on a particular phase of research, this book covers all phases in depth, from conceptual issues and qualitative reseach design to analysis, interpretation, and reporting. If you were to read this book from cover to cover you would enjoy it, but you may yawn once or twice. To ease the boredom factor, the author was kind enough to include jokes and cartoons and sage anecdotes from research guru Halcolm. If you just want to use this book to answer particular research questions, then this is also the right book for you. I've looked at several other qualitative research books and this one seems to address all the major questions a researcher could possibly have. I highly recommend this book for any and all qualitative research neophytes.

As a senior in college who is conducting interviews with high school and college students, I would recommend this book. It provides an excellent jumping off point for both novice student interviewers as well as seasoned teachers. Patton, himself an experienced interviewer, and also an award-winning teacher and storyteller, outlines all the necessary steps involved in the interview process in a very entertaining way. The book reads much like a textbook, complete with original cartoons, historical examples, and vast personal experience. Moreover, inspirational and often amusing quotes kickoff each section. Appearing throughout the book is the fictional sage-like character Halcolm, a philosophical alter ego of Patton, who, "like his name (pronounced slowly)," forces the reader to ask "how come?" (p. A2).
Patton has divided Qualitative Research and Evaluation into three main parts: Conceptual Issues in Qualitative Inquiry, Qualitative Designs and Data Collection, and finally Analysis, Interpretation, and Reporting. Under each section are many subsections, all clearly laid out in a very detailed table of contents. For example, Conceptual Issues is divided into four subcategories: The Nature of Qualitative Inquiry, Strategic Themes in Qualitative Inquiry, Variety in Qualitative Inquiry: Theoretical Orientations, and finally Particularly Appropriate Qualitative Applications. Furthermore, these four subcategories are then broken down in additional detail in the table of contents. The titles of these sections (and chapters) are somewhat typical for the text as a whole in that they rely on sociological terminology that may be unfamiliar to beginners. At first glance, the table of contents appears to be little more than a patchwork of intellectual vocabulary, but the book reads in much simpler terms.
The index to the book is also very useful for finding numerous narrowed down focuses. I found this the most helpful. For example, when I wanted to find out about transcribing interviews, I was able to find all of the relevant chapters and information at once.
Unfortunately, however, Patton's broad scope is also his main weakness. It is very easy to become bogged down by the mass amount of details and by his many examples. Also, for scholars primarily interested in the interview process, only the final section is useful, especially in the field of analysis.
Patton attempts to cover all of the basics of interviewing, and provides an excellent outline, but nothing can compare to actual experience. Nevertheless, it is highly recommended that first-time interviewers consult Patton's book for an introductory guide, and even veteran interviewers can learn something from Patton's vast experience.
Researchers will also find Patton's 36 pages of single-spaced references very helpful, and graduate students will find it invaluable for dissertations.

No, I'm not a disgruntled grad student who had to take a qualitative eval course with this book as the bible. I'm a very happy grad student who enthusiastically pursues qualitative methods (and in fact teaches them to his undergrad students), but who learned at great expense to avoid this book at all costs.

A large number of professors teaching research have latched onto Patton as the qualitative guru for valid reasons. He has done seminal work in the field, championed the process for decades, and is deservedly well respected for these efforts. The problem is using his book as a classroom textbook.

This book is OK as a reference source, but the man is not a textbook author. The book is extremely difficult to comprehend, has not been revised significantly since the first edition in 1980, wanders off on tangents seldom related to the content (try the start of Chapter 5 if you need an example), fails to provide groundedness with adequate theoretical applications, and so on. ....I do use this book and quote from it when appropriate, but cannot recommend it as a textbook.

This book is outstanding in its presentation of the ins and outs of interviewing. It provides many caveats and tips about how to formulate questions that do not lead but do stimulate rich answers.

In all my years of schooling, this is the first text book that I actually read cover-to-cover and most of it twice. Patton has an accessible, human style of writing. He writes with the voice of a mentor and guide. The content is superb. Particularly useful is Patton's use of summarizing tables. These provide for a quick reference and side-by-side comparisons that help simplify, but not dumb down, complex issues such comparitive theory and sampling approaches. Patton's work is also a great jumping off point for more complex research because the book is well indexed and his references broad and authoritative. If I was only going to buy one qualitative research book, this would be it.

The book I ordered was in great condition. The text itself is long due to the author's detailed explanations and descriptions. Very Helpful.

I needed this book for a class.It is filled with many examples to assist in understanding the concepts discussed in the book.

Dr. Patton wrote several excellent books, but this is probably my favorite. A must for new researchers. Examples, illustrations, advice to researchers are all wonderful and very helpful in illustrating difficult points. Makes reading this sizable volume easy and enjoyable.

I enjoyed the book overall. I found the stories enlightening and intelligent, and the stories provided a nice context/backstory for the research Patton discusses. In that sense it is a good intro book for qualitative methods, and I found his discussion on qualitative evaluation more helpful than the discussion on basic or applied qualitative research. I found it to be a bit limiting when I set out to actually do the research in that the book disn't provide enough guidance in the work of analysis. More guidance on the actual process of analysis would have been very helpful. In addition, I found much of the discussion on the use of technology a bit dated and overly light in some ways, such as Patton's discussion on the traps that researchers can fall into in data collection when using computer programs.

Nobody writes like Patton. He is very entertaining, and makes his points eloquently. If you have the time, it is a great book which is very informative. If you don't have the time, try Creswell.