Wolff-Michael Roth 
Rigorous Data Analysis 
Beyond “Anything Goes”

In qualitative research, one can often hear the statement that research results are just (social) constructions. In criminal cases and in court hearings, we tend to expect that the true sequence of events has to be found rather than just any story. Here the author shows that qualitative social research can be conducted in the manner of police work or court proceedings. He does so by exhibiting how short pieces of transcriptions can be approached to uncover who, when, where, and how participated, what kind of social situation produced the transcription, and so on without any background knowledge other than that talk itself. Commenting on transcriptions of a researcher in the course of doing rigorous data analysis, readers learn doing ethnographically adequate accounts and critical institutional ethnography “at the elbow” of an experienced practitioners. Further topics include the role of turn sequences, the ethnomethods of knowledge-power and institutional relations, the documentary method of interpretation, and time-sensitive social analysis.

Cuprins

Preface; Glossary; Exergue; PART A: INTRODUCTION; Rigor in Qualitative Data Analysis; PART B: FIVE DATA SESSIONS; Data Session 1 (Heidi); Data Session 2 (Vicky); Data Session 3 (Bullrush); Data Session 4 (Mikäela); Data Session 5 (Kiana); PART C: RIGOR AND THE PRAGMATICS OF RELATIONS; Turn Sequences; Knowledge-Power and Institutional Relations; On the Shop Floor and Playing Field; The Documentary Method of Interpretation; Getting Time Back into the Analysis; PART D: EPILOGUE; Socially Responsible Data Analysis; Appendix A: Transcriptions for Part B; Appendix B: Transcription Conventions; References; Index.