A Review of Qualitative Research: Studying How Things Work

Qualitative Research: Studying How Things Work by Robert E. Stake reviews the processes, procedures, concepts, and assumptions of qualitative research in a way that encourages the reader to consider multiple elements of the design, implementation, and reporting of a study. This book is appropriate for a wide range of qualitative and mixed-methods researchers, including those who are just beginning and those who have moved beyond the basics and are working on their own studies. Stake's clear and conversational style makes this book easy to understand and apply to one's own work, but the text will challenge readers to take their reasoning about and understanding of qualitative research beyond an introductory level. Key Words: Qualitative Research, Qualitative Research Design, Dissertation Proposal, Interpretation As researchers, we are often interested in why and how things "work." This is the focus of Robert E. Stake, in his book Qualitative Research: Studying How Things Work (2010). As I began my review of this book, I started as most reviewers might: I read some online reviews, flipped through the table of contents, glanced at some of the diagrams, scanned the introduction, read about the author. As I looked over the summary of the book on its back cover, I read this statement: "After reading this book, doctoral students and novice qualitative researchers will be able to plan a study from beginning to end." As a doctoral candidate working on her dissertation proposal, I found myself hoping that this was true. After all, the subtitle of this book is Studying How Things Work; so, how does this book "work" for planning a qualitative study? As I made my way through this book, I found my focus shifting back and forth between that of a reviewer, reading the book for themes, tone, and overall usage, and that of a doctoral candidate thinking about her dissertation proposal. In brief, the goal of this book is to provide a framework for beginning and intermediate qualitative researchers to plan out a study. Stake (2010) walks the reader, his student for the time, through the process of qualitative research, discussing what it is, how to state the research problem, gather data, review the literature, analyze and synthesize the data that has been collected, and write up the results. Essentially, he helps the reader to begin to study "how things work" through qualitative research methodology. In order to study how this book "works," I focused on reading and reviewing this book as a qualitative researcher might (Chenail, 2010), remembering that "[q]ualitative research encourages us as investigators to be mindful of who we are and how our perspectives can influence how we interact with others and make sense of the world around us" (p. 1635). Additionally, I considered Stake's discussion of interpretation as I organized my thoughts about this book. Stake writes, The best interpretations will be logical extensions of the simple description but will also include contemplative, speculative, even aesthetic extension. . . . They are contributions of the researcher, written so as to make it clear they are personal interpretations. All people make interpretations. All research requires interpretations. Qualitative research relies heavily on interpretive perceptions throughout the planning, data gathering, analysis, and write-up of the study. (p. 55) I have tried to integrate these elements into my review of this book, both in approaching it as a qualitative researcher and in trying to apply Stake's thoughts on interpretation to my own perceptions of this book. Stake (2010) covers issues that are both commonly covered in qualitative research texts (i.e., Creswell, 2007; Denzin & Lincoln, 2000; Hesse-Biber & Leavy, 2006), as well as topics that are less-frequently covered, such as the use of storytelling in the reporting of data. His chapters span larger issues such as the Person as an Instrument (Chapter 2), Experiential Understanding (Chapter 3), Review of Literature (Chapter 6), Writing the Final Report (Chapter 11), and Advocacy and Ethics (Chapter 12). …