Eve, Susan Brown

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Clinical Sociology ReviewVolume 16 | Issue 1 Article 161-1-1998The New Language of Qualitative MethodSusan Brown EveUniversity of North TexasFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/csrThis Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@WayneState. It has been accepted for inclusion in Clinical SociologyReview by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@WayneState.Recommended CitationEve, Susan Brown (1998) "The New Language of Qualitative Method," Clinical Sociology Review: Vol. 16: Iss. 1, Article 16.Available at: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/csr/vol16/iss1/16BOOK REVIEWS 107social and psychological impacts of contamination. There is much commonresonance around themes such as local knowledge and lay epidemiology.Having offered the promise of Citizen Science as an alternative paradigmfor science, Irwin waits to the last chapter to admit "there is no easy synthesison offer which can replace enlightenment/modernist thinking." The volumeis more reactive than proactive. The discussion of building sustainable fu-tures is dominated by tales of failure rather than success, even in examiningsuch important models as that of the European science shops or the CanadianMacKenzie River Pipeline Inquiry. Thus, as attractive as is Irwin's vision,one cannot but be disappointed by the sparse delivery on the promise of Citi-zen Science. Perhaps the paucity of positive and successful models is itselfinstructive, a challenge to the thesis that is not addressed. Lacking indicationsof practical success, Irwin is left to cite abstract notions about a "greenerscience" that asks of any application "which form of science is appropriateand in what relationship to other forms of knowledge." With the public aspeer reviewers, this new science would become better able to address theambiguities of the real world. Irwin's integration thus bridges the post-mod-ernist critique of contamination with the socially transformative steps neces-sary to reach sustainability. This is a vision that I, for one, share, and, evenabsent claims for idealized applications and successes, Citizens Science cor-rectly charts the direction that field experimentation, innovative practice, andenvironmental action research should urgently pursue.The New Language of Qualitative Method, by Jaber F. Gubrium and JamesA. Holstein. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. 244 pp. ISBN 0-19-509993-1 (cloth), 0-19-509994-X (pbk.)Susan Brown EveUniversity of North TexasThe purpose of this book is to analyze the way the language of qualitativemethod relates to how researchers view and describe social life. The authors,Jaber Gubrium and James Holstein, describe the four most influential ap-proaches to qualitative research in contemporary social science. These fourapproaches are naturalism, ethnomethodology, emotionalism, andpostmodernism. Naturalism is defined as "...a way of knowing that locatesmeaningful reality in the immediate settings of people's daily affairs (p. 7)."Naturalists seek "...descriptions of people and interaction as they exist andunfold in their native habitats...in order to understand what things mean tothem (pp. 6-7)." Ethnomethodologists listen "...to naturally occurring con-108 CLINICAL SOCIOLOGY REVIEW / 1998versation in order to discover how a sense of social order is created throughtalk and interaction. At the heart of the research is a deep concern for ordi-nary, everyday procedures and practices that society's members use to maketheir social experiences sensible, understandable, accountable and orderly (p.7)." Emotionalism focuses on understanding the total man in his total envi-ronment (p. 9). To do that, requires ".. .open sharing and intimacy, affectivesensitivity...to develop true empathy and understanding. The goal is to cap-ture, even reenact, the subject's experience and to describe that in full emo-tional color (p. 9)." Postmodernism is concerned with the growing awarenessthat there is a reflexive relationship between social reality and the methodsused to study it; "...that research procedure constructs reality as much as itproduces descriptions of it... This 'crisis of representation' has inspired ahost of attempts to 'deconstruct' research to reveal its reality-constituting prac-tices (pp. 9-10)." Each of these four major approaches is analyzed in separatechapters in the first part of the book and their differences are discussed indetail.In Part II, the authors show how the differences can be integrated usingcommon characteristics of the four methods to create a "renewed language ofqualitative method." The common characteristics include a skepticism towardcommon wisdom about social reality, a commitment to close scrutiny of thesocial world, a commitment to describe the "qualities," or understandings, ofexperience, a focus on the processes of social life, an appreciation for subjec-tivity, and a tolerance for the complexity of social reality. Differences in themethods have led researchers to emphasize different research questions. Natu-ralists focus on the what questions, ethnomethodologists focus on the howquestions, emotionalists warn that naturalists and ethnomethodologists over-rationalize the what and the how questions, and the postmodernists have fo-cused on procedural issues in qualitative research as the central problem. Intheir "renewed language of qualitative method," the authors argue that inter-pretive practice, or reality construction, that is at the heart of qualitative re-search requires both artful interpretation — that is, a discussion of how hu-man beings create reality — and conditional or substantive interpretation —that is, a description of the what of social experiences — using the techniqueof "analytic bracketing." Analytic bracketing refers to the process of movingback and forth between the what and the how questions, alternately describ-ing each so that neither side is emphasized more than the other. This processlays the groundwork for approaching the why questions, "while remainingsituated at the lived border of reality and representation (p. 211)."The book will be of interest to experienced qualitative researchers for itssuggestions of ways in which the four major approaches can be used togetherBOOK REVIEWS 109to provide a greater understanding of the "qualities" of social life. It will alsobe useful to researchers new to the field of qualitative techniques who arestruggling to sort out the major divisions within the field of qualitative meth-ods.

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