"The book offers communication researchers some of the best recent work on qualitative inquiry in the human disciplines. . . . Published by Sage, the leading publisher of qualitative research in the social sciences today. . . . This valuable text moves the student through four phases of inquiry: beginnings (gaining access), into the field, back home, and endings (writing). . . . This work brings the communication scholar up-to-date on where qualitative methods are in current sociological and educational discourse." --Norman K. Denzin in Journal of Communication "A clearly written, straightforward piece of work which nicely combines informative chapters, projects for students, and exemplars from real life research projects. The substance of the book, with each chapter written by a different author with appropriate experience, offers a readable and easily comprehensible introduction to all the major areas of social science research. The authors have expertly trodden the tightrope between giving the reader too much information and thus complicating subjects and giving too little and making the book superficial. This is a book to be highly recommended to the research community."