Data Analysis in Qualitative Research: Theorizing with Abductive Analysis

"Good research teaches us something we didn't know, maybe that we didn't even realize we needed to know. But how does a researcher setting out to do their work find those elusive, illuminating insights? How can you create a surprise? Sociologists Stefan Timmermans and Iddo Tavory have been teaching young scholars how to do just that, and in Data Analysis in Qualitative Research, they explore the foundations of conducting revelatory ethnographic research. This book's predecessor, Abductive Analysis, teaches students how to uncover the theoretical insights in their ethnographic work; this book ensures that researchers will go into the field ready to make the most out of the relationships and situations they encounter. Timmermans and Tavory describe ways ofengaging with theory that help the researcher note where their findings meet and diverge from existing models. They discuss strategies for designing research that zooms in on specific questions and zooms out to observe the interconnectedness of social life. They walk the reader through coding data, encouraging methods that defamiliarize data after it's been collected. They highlight the single most promising path to take when scholars are still not sure what is worth pursuing in their research project. They also take readers through the writing and publishing process, showing that writing is rife with analytical decisions of what to include, how to narrate, how to respond to reviewers, and how to engage an academic audience"--
From two experts in the field comes an accessible, how-to guide that will help researchers think more productively about the relation between theory and data at every stage of their work. In Data Analysis in Qualitative Research, Iddo Tavory and Stefan Timmermans provide a how-to guide filled with tricks of the trade for researchers who hope to take excellent qualitative data and transform it into powerful scholarship. In their previous book, Abductive Analysis: Theorizing Qualitative Research, Timmermans and Tavory offered a toolkit for innovative theorizing in the social sciences. In this companion, they go one step further to show how to uncover the surprising revelations that lie waiting in qualitative data—in sociology and beyond.   In this book, they lay out a series of tools designed to help both novice and expert scholars see and understand their data in surprising ways. Timmermans and Tavory show researchers how to “stack the deck” of qualitative research in favor of locating surprising findings that may lead to theoretical breakthroughs, whether by engaging with theory, discussing research strategies, or walking the reader through the process of coding data. From beginning to end of a research project, Data Analysis in Qualitative Research helps social scientists pinpoint the most promising paths to take in their approach.