Disability and Qualitative Inquiry

Methods for Rethinking an Ableist World

Ronald J Berger author Laura S Lorenz author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:21st Oct '15

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Disability and Qualitative Inquiry cover

This groundbreaking text makes an intervention on behalf of disability studies into the broad field of qualitative inquiry. Ronald Berger and Laura Lorenz introduce readers to a range of issues involved in doing qualitative research on disabilities by bringing together a collection of scholarly work that supplements their own contributions and covers a variety of qualitative methods: participant observation, interviewing and interview coding, focus groups, autoethnography, life history, narrative analysis, content analysis, and participatory visual methods. The chapters are framed in terms of the relevant methodological issues involved in the research, bringing in substantive findings to illustrate the fruits of the methods. In doing so, the book covers a range of physical, sensory, and cognitive impairments. This work resonates with themes in disability studies such as emancipatory research, which views research as a collaborative effort with research subjects whose lives are enhanced by the process and results of the work. It is a methodological approach that requires researchers to be on guard against exploiting informants for the purpose of professional aggrandizement and to engage in a process of ongoing self-reflection to clear themselves of personal and professional biases that may interfere with their ability to hear and empathize with others.

’This edited volume is a must read for anyone interested in the study of disability. It offers a variety of qualitative methodologies and methods, written in accessible language to a variety of disciplinary audiences, rendering it ideal for both undergraduate and graduate level programs. Readers will learn about interpretative ways to understand disability and the importance of exposing taken-for-granted disableist norms that inform our social practices, thus making visible the experience of social injustice as we re-think our relationships with each other.’ Christina Papadimitriou, Northern Illinois University, USA ’This is an important book. It offers readers rich insights into the process of doing qualitative research. It opens up new research opportunities to work with disabled people and transfer knowledge in highly accessible ways. In so doing, how students, academics, and practitioners might do qualitative inquiry, understand disability, and challenge oppressive practices is expanded.’ Brett Smith, Loughborough University, UK ’What a gem! This book by Berger and Lorenz not only engages deeply with disability scholarship, but it’s also full of rigorous methodological insight. This book is crucial for anyone interested in researching topics in disability, but also for anyone wanting a greater understanding of a variety of qualitative research methods.’ Laura Mauldin, University of Connecticut, USA

ISBN: 9781472432896

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 612g

258 pages