title: The Science of Qualitative Research
author: Martin Packer
description: "The sweep of the material is breathtaking. Few writers will be familiar across the whole range of theorists covered here! The Science of Qualitative Research should be made compulsory reading for students beginning a course in the social sciences, or entering a postgraduate and/or graduate research program in any discipline." <br /><b>- Andy Blunden</b><br /><br /><br />"In this critical mapping of the history of qualitative inquiry, Martin Packer soars majestically through an expansive epistemological terrain. Dissecting dualist contradictions he challenges us to take up the radical potential of post-modern approaches and revel in the emergent, co-constituted, interpretivist nature of the project. This extraordinary text manages to be both scholarly and accessible while offering a vision of a moral, emancipatory and transformative way of doing research." <br /><b>- Linda Finlay, the Open University, UK</b><br /><br /><br />"This book is badly needed in the behavioral and social sciences. Indeed, it should be required reading for any serious student of methods or methodologies. It is a veritable tour de force of the prominent figures, difficult problems, and imperfect solutions besetting the various modes of inquiry. Qualitative research was intended to cure many of these ills, but, as Packer so cogently argues, the hidden dualism of this investigative approach has prevented it from realizing its full potential, leading us to ignore or misunderstand not only important modes of inquiry but also vital forms of life. With this penetrating analysis as backdrop, Packer then reforges qualitative research as he demonstrates fresh ways of studying life and living, all in elegant, crystal clear, and accessible prose." <br /><b>- Brent D. Slife, Brigham Young University</b><br /><br /><br />"....interesting, well written, and very informative.... Researchers interested in the science of qualitative research will find this an important read.... Highly recommended...." <br /><b>- P.J. Venturelli, Valparaiso University, CHOICE</b><br /><br /><br />"....The title of the book will draw readers. Qualitative research is a burgeoning field, and closure on its full definition is years away. The book's array of names and theories is formidable...." <br /><b>- Thomas F. Cloonani, PsycCRITIQUES</b><br />
zlib_text: QUALITATIVE 
  RESEARCH
  THE SCIENCE OF
  MARTIN J. PACKER
  SECOND EDITION
  
  THE SCIENCE OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
  S E C O N D E D I T I O N
  This updated and expanded edition is a unique examination of qualitative
  research in the social sciences, raising and answering the question of why we do
  this kind of investigation. Rather than providing instructions on how to conduct
  qualitative research, The Science of Qualitative Research explores the multiple
  roots of qualitative research – including phenomenology, hermeneutics, and
  critical theory – in order to diagnose the current state of the ﬁeld and
  recommend an alternative. The author argues that much qualitative research
  today uses the mind–world dualism that is typical of traditional experimental
  investigation, and recommends that instead we focus on constitution: the
  relationship of mutual formation between a form of life and its members.
  Michel Foucault’s program for “a history ontology of ourselves” provides the
  basis for this fresh approach