Wolfe and Qualitative Research

[Kelley Walker]

At 02:25 PM 4/16/01 -0400, LeoCasey at aol.com wrote:
>There are methods of qualitative research, of which ethnography is only one
>example, which do not rely on quantitaive, numbers crunching techniques.
>These are valid and important methods of research. Most school-based and
>classroom-based action research in education, for example, rely on
>qualitative research techniques. There are journals and listservs dedicated
>entirely to the subject of qualitative research. But what distinguishes
>qualitative research from journalism is that it has its own methods and
>protocols, and it is not clear to me that Wolfe followed these protocols and
>methods. It is important to distinguish between the two issues.
>
>Leo Casey
>United Federation of Teachers
>260 Park Avenue South
>New York, New York 10010-7272 (212-598-6869)

wolfe is classically trained in crunching. he was very wary of using qual 
methods. when he spoke about his research he was very aware of the 
limitations of qual methods. in fact, as i recall, he has a typical methods 
chapter, right doug? chris?