Max Travers

`The great strength of this book is that it provides a clear and well-structured overview of some of the diverse approaches that are currently available within the qualitative tradition′ - British Journal of Educational Psychology Although most undergraduates are able to collect qualitative data without too much difficulty, they are often less successful in turning this into an interesting, theoretically-informed analysis. Qualitative Research through Case Studies will help students improve the quality of their work through introducing a wide range of traditions, including interpretive approaches such as grounded theory, dramaturgical analysis, ethnomethodology and conversation analysis and political approaches such as critical discourse analysis, feminism and postmodern ethnography. Each chapter introduces the theoretical assumptions of the tradition through discussing a number of case-studies: classic or exemplary studies which illustrate how different researchers have used qualitative methods in researching a variety of topics. There are also practical hints on designing undergraduate projects, exercises and a guide to further reading. The book is intended for students in a wide range of disciplines and should be particularly useful for complete beginners who are interested in conducting qualitative research as part o

Qualitative Research through Case Studies

There has already been much discussion and critique of the New Public Management, and the impact of auditing and inspection on professional work in schools, hospitals, local government and the police. This study, by a qualitative sociologist, uses interpretive methods to examine this new form of regulation from the inside. Based on interviews with inspectors, quality assurance managers, and auditors, as well as with professionals struggling with red tape, it offers a critical and insightful account of organisational change. The author includes vivid accounts of how quality assurance procedures and systems work in practice, conveying a sense of what is practically involved in the work of counting, measuring and managing quality, and the everyday frustrations of professionals dealing with ever-increasing amounts of paper work and red tape. This book should be essential reading for anyone concerned about the rise of this new bureaucracy and the contemporary state of the professions. It is intended to support courses on quality assurance and the New Public Management in public administration and management. It also provides an accessible introduction for students in socio-legal studies, sociology and social policy about the effects of neo-liberalism on public sector work.

Quality Assurance and Its Critics

The New Bureaucracy

Baudouin Dupret

Julie Colemans

Understanding legal rules not as determinants of behavior but as points of reference for conduct, this volume considers the ways in which rules are invoked, referred to, interpreted, put forward or blurred. It also asks how both legal practitioners and lay participants conceive of and participate in the construction of facts and rules, and thus, through decisions, defenses, pleas, files, evidence, interviews and documents, actively participate in law’s life. With attention to the formulation of notions such as person, evidence, intention, cause and responsibility in the course of legal practices, Legal Rules in Practice provides the outlines of a praxiological anthropology of law – an anthropology that focuses on words, concepts and reasoning as actively used to solve conflicts with the help of legal rules. As such, it will appeal to sociologists, anthropologists and scholars of law with interests in ethnomethodology, rule-based conduct and practical reasoning.

In the Midst of Law’s Life

Legal Rules in Practice

Andrew Day

Isabelle Bartkowiak-Théron

Emma Colvin

Rick Sarre

Christine Bond

This book arises from a research project funded in Australia by the Criminology Research Council. The topic, bail reform, has attracted attention from criminologists and law reformers over many years. In the USA, a reform movement has argued that risk analysis and pre-trial services should replace the bail bond system (the state of California may introduce this system in 2020). In the United Kingdom, Europe and Australia, there have been concerns about tough bail laws that have contributed to a rise in imprisonment rates. The approach in this book is distinctive. The inter-disciplinary authors include criminologists, an academic lawyer and a forensic psychologist together with qualitative researchers with backgrounds in sociology and anthropology. The book advances a policy argument through presenting descriptive statistics, interviews with practitioners and detailed accounts of bail applications and their outcomes. There is discussion of methodological issues throughout the book, including the challenges of obtaining data from the courts.

Max Travers

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