Naturalistic inquiry is about studying people in everyday circumstances by ordinary means. It strives to blend in, to respect people in their daily lives, to take their actions and experiences seriously, and to build on these carefully. Doing Qualitative Research: The Craft of Naturalistic Inquiry offers guidance, combining thoughtful reflection with practical tips. It is written for undergraduate and graduate students in social science; for practitioners in social work, healthcare, policy advice, and organizational consultancy; and for all who have a genuine interest in society and its members.

Joost Beuving teaches anthropology at Radboud University Nijmegen. He has a special interest in everyday economic life. He has studied car dealers in the second-hand car trade between Europe and West Africa, and fishermen in the Nile perch export business on Lake Victoria, East Africa.Geert de Vries teaches sociology at VU University Amsterdam and Amsterdam University College. He specializes in historical sociology.He has studied educational expansion, schools, the life-worlds of youngsters, and social problems and social change in the Netherlands.

List of boxes 9List of figures 11Acknowledgements 13Introduction: The arc of naturalistic inquiry 15Naturalistic inquiry and qualitative research 19Genesis and audience of the book 20Outline 231. On naturalistic inquiry: Key issues and practices 271.1. Positivism and interpretivism: Auguste Comte versus Max Weber 281.2. Describing, understanding, and explaining 291.3. Definitions of situations and social facts 311.4. Positivist and naturalistic designs 361.5. Qualitative versus quantitative methods? 391.6. Validity and reliability in naturalistic inquiry 422. Theorizing society: Grounded theory in naturalistic inquiry 472.1. Dissatisfaction with structural functionalism and grand theory 492.2. The intellectual pedigree of symbolic interactionism 512.3. Grounded theory in naturalistic inquiry: The problem of generalization and inference 572.4. Conclusion 633. Looking at society: Observing, participating, interpreting 653.1. Enlightenment roots 663.2. Observations in social research: Positivism and naturalistic inquiry 683.3. Naturalistic observations: Looking at everyday life 733.4. The observer as participant 763.5. Practical methodology in looking at society 793.6. Conclusion 874. Talking about society: Interviewing and casual conversation 894.1. From workers’ inquiry to social survey 904.2. The open interview 924.3. The life history interview 974.4. The creative or active interview 1034.5. Practical methodology in interviewing 1054.6. Conclusion: Casual conversation 1105. Reading society: Texts, images, things 1135.1. Texts 1145.2. Images: Drawings, paintings, maps, photographs, film 1225.3. Things 1275.4. Practical methodology in reading society 1295.5. Conclusion 1336. Disentangling society: The analysis of social networks 1356.1. The analysis and theory of social networks 1366.2. A note on key thinkers: Roles, sociogenesis, and transactions 1406.3. Applications of social network analysis in naturalistic inquiry 1476.4. Practical methodology in disentangling society 1506.5. Conclusion 1567. Not getting lost in society: On qualitative analysis 1577.1. Text and interpretation 1587.2. Practical methodology: Qualitative analysis in six steps 1627.3. Conclusion 1718. Telling about society: On writing 1738.1. Thick description and social theory 1748.2. Writing as Verstehen 1788.3. Contested issues: The ‘I’, literary technique, composite cases 1828.4. Practical methodology in telling about society 1878.5. Conclusion 188Epilogue: Present and future of naturalistic inquiry 191Naturalistic inquiry in social research 193Accountability in naturalistic inquiry 195The future 198References 201Index of names 213Index of subjects 215