In addition to hundreds of new references features new to this edition include: a comprehensive introduction to qualitative methods including a review of existing computer applications for collecting and analyzing data; the latest information about the use of computers and online research techniques, including the use of the Internet to locate actual research instruments and journal articles; updated coverage on new scales, internal and external validity, and new analytic techniques with extensive references on each; abstracts, citations and subject groupings by measurement tool of the last five years of the American Sociological Review, Social Psychology Quarterly, and the American Journal of Sociology; extensive coverage of how to prepare manuscripts for publication, including a list of all journals covered by Sociological Abstracts along with the editorial office address and URL for each entry; new coverage of ethical issues; expansion of social indicators to include international coverage; discussion of the importance of policy research with presentation and discussion of specific models as an adjunct to both applied and basic research techniques; and the addition of an index to facilitate the reader's ability to quickly locate a topic.

The Case Study

Although either the culture-sharing group or specific individuals within it might be considered a “case,” the case study approach to qualitative inquiry is focused less on discerning patterns of the group and more on an in-depth description of a process, a program, an event, or an activity. Some consider “the case” an object of study (Stake, 1995), and others consider it a methodology (e.g., Merriam, 1988). In either situation, case study is an exploration of a “bounded system” or a case (or multiple cases), over time, through detailed, in-depth data collection involving multiple ...

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