Emergent Methods in Social Research

Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber (PhD, University of Michigan) is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Women’s Studies & Gender Studies Program at Boston College in Massachusetts. She has published widely on the impact of sociocultural factors on women’s body image, including her book Am I Thin Enough Yet? The Cult of Thinness and the Commercialization of Identity, which was selected as one of Choice Magazine’s best academic books for 1996. She has also written widely on methodological and methods issues, including the role of technology and emergent methods in social research. Dr. Hesse-Biber is co-editor of Emergent Methods in Social Research and the Handbook of Emergent Methods, as well as co-author of The Practice of Qualitative Research. She is also editor of the Handbook of Feminist Research: Theory and Praxis, which was selected as one of the Critics’ Choice Award winners by the American Education Studies Association and was also chosen as one of Choice Magazine’s Outstanding Academic titles for 2007. Dr. Hesse-Biber is co-developer of the software program HyperRESEARCH, a computer-assisted program for analyzing qualitative data, and the new transcription tool HyperTRANSCRIBE. For more information, see www.researchware.com. Patricia Leavy specializes in qualitative methodology, collective memory, popular culture and gender. Leavy previously taught at Boston College, Northeastern University and Curry College. She is the author of Iconic Events: Media, Politics and Power in Retelling History (Lexington Books, 2007), Method Meets Art: Arts-Based Research (Guilford Press, 2009) and Oral History: Understanding Qualitative Research (Oxford University Press, 2011). She is coauthor of Feminist Research Practice (Sage, 2007) and The Practice of Qualitative Research (Sage, 2005; 2011). She is the co-editor of Hybrid Identities: Theoretical and Empirical Examinations (Brill, 2009); Handbook of Emergent Methods (Guilford Press, 2008); Emergent Methods in Social Research (Sage, 2006) and Approaches to Qualitative Research: A Reader on Theory and Practice (Oxford University Press, 2004). She is currently the editor for a large book series with Oxford University Press titled Understanding Qualitative Research. Leavy has also authored articles on methodology, body image, collective memory, and media. She is regularly quoted in newspapers for her expertise on popular culture and gender and has appeared on CNN’s Glenn Beck Show and Lou Dobbs. Leavy is the founding Director of the Gender Studies Program at Stonehill. Patricia Leavy was named the New England Sociologist of the Year 2010 by the New England Sociological Association.

• AcknowledgementsIntroduction: Emergent Methods in Social Research Within and Across DisciplinesSkirting a Pleated Text: De-Disciplining an Academic Life - Laurel RichardsonGetting Connected: How Sociologists Can Access the High Tech Elite - Trond Aren UndheimA Sociologist Among Economists: Some Thoughts on Methods, Positionality, and Subjectivity - Sarah Babb Ethnography and Conversation Analysis: What Is the Context of an Utterance? - Douglas W. MaynardCreativity Within Qualitative Research on Families: New Ideas for Old Methods - Sharon A. DeaconSampling Human Experience in Naturalistic Settings - Tamlin Conner and Eliza Bliss-Moreau Feminist Visualization: Re-envisioning GIS as Method in Feminist Geographic Research - Mei-Po Kwan Practical Strategies for Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Methods: Applications to Health Research - David MorganPerforming Autoethnography: An Embodied Methodological Praxis - Tami Spry Exposed Methodology: The Body as a Deconstructive Practice - Wanda S. Pillow Ethnodrama: Performed Research—Limitations and Potential - Jim Mienczakowski On the Listening Guide: A Voice-Centered Relational Method - Carol Gilligan, Renee Spencer, M. Katherine Weinberg and Tatiana Bertsch Friendship as Method - Lisa Tillmann-Healy Gender Imago - Niza Yanay and Nitza Berkovitch The Personal is Political: Using Daily Diaries to Examine Everyday Prejudice-Related Experiences - Lauri L. Hyers, Janet K. Swim, Robyn K. Mallett Feminist Media Ethnography in India: Exploring Power, Gender, and Culture in the Field - Radhika ParameswaranConclusion: “Coming at Things Differently”: The Need for Emergent MethodsAbout the EditorsAbout the Contributors

"All of the book′s chapters are written with enthusiasm and an interest to stimulate researchers to make new uses of traditional data gathering methods and/or develop new ideas."