Rocking Qualitative Social Science: An Irreverent, but Practical Guide to Rigorous Research

Abstract

In this talk, I will discuss my new book, Rocking Qualitative Social Science (Stanford University Press, 2021), focusing on my motivations for writing it and what I see as its main contributions. I will emphasize the importance of matching the research process to the goals of the research project. In that spirit, I will contrast the common emphasis on the one “right way” of doing qualitative research to what I call the “dirtbagging” approach to research, which is a more inclusive and flexible approach that still follows the scientific method, but rearranges the steps in ways that we are often told not to do. Finally, I will offer some highlights from the book focused on countering some conventional wisdom.