582 Book reviews

University of Montana, Missoula, employs architecture, specifically of ball courts, advance the
discourse on hinterland. And the last two case studies, “Poor Mesa Verde: So Far from Heaven,
So Close to Chaco” by Sarah H. Schlanger, a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology at Arizona State
University, and “Becoming Central: Organizational Transformation in the Emergence of Zuni”
by Andrew I. Duff, an assistant professor of anthropology at Washington State University, and
Gregson Schachner, a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology at Arizona State University, spatially
analyze their respective hinterlands and the changes that occur in them over time. The volume
concludes with an excellent summary chapter on “Reconceptualizing Regional Dynamics in
the Ancient Southwest: Relational Approaches” by Ruth M. Van Dyke, an assistant professor
of anthropology at Colorado College.
In totality, the various contributors to Hinterlands and Regional Dynamics in the Ancient
Southwest explore comprehensively the complex interactions occurring between hinterlands
and heartlands in general and specifically those of the pre-Columbian Greater Southwest,
especially with regard to their heterogeneity and dynamism as well as the effects they have on
each other. They also enrich what is known about the early history of the region and its peoples.
In so doing, they bring to bear a diversity of systems of analysis and sources from a broad
sampling of locations. Perhaps somewhat less well, they make the case for the distinctiveness
of the hinterland model and its related research possibilities.
The scholarship in this volume is extensive and impressive and well documented in the final
“References Cited.” The indispensable maps, charts, and illustrations throughout are quite
good. But this not a book for the casual reader on the history of the early Greater Southwest; its
worth can be more fully appreciated by those who have a deeper understanding of the region’s
past and current social science methodologies.

Dennis Reinhartz ∗
Department of History, The University of Texas at Arlington,
Box 19529, Arlington, TX 76019-0529, United States
∗
Tel.: +1 817 272 2907.
E-mail address: dprein@uta.edu

doi: 10.1016/j.soscij.2007.07.009

Foundations of Qualitative Research: Interpretive and Critical Approaches

Jerry W. Willis; Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc., 2007, 367 pages.

Foundations of qualitative research is a book that explores the assumptions that underlie
the major paradigms of qualitative research, with a special focus on interpretivist and crit-
ical approaches. Many qualitative research books are focused on a particular methodology
for conducting research; this book truly is different in that it is an inquiry into the major
world views that guide social science research. The book begins with defining critical terms
such as: paradigm, ontology, and epistemology and lays the foundation for understanding the
most popular world views that dominate qualitative research in social sciences: positivism or
postpositivism, interpretivism, and critical theory.
 Book reviews 583

Chapter 2 is a historical journey into the evolution of the three main paradigms of social
science research. According to the authors, positivism was a perspective that emerged during
the Renaissance and the Enlightenment era (1450–1800) to support an attempt to discover
universal truths in both the physical and the social world. This chapter also discusses the
beginnings of the critical theory and interpretivist approaches, which help build a deeper
understanding about the origins of these paradigms. According to the authors, each of the three
theories were a response to the societal problems of their times. Positivism was a response to
the religious and metaphysical beliefs that dominated during the 19th century. Critical theory
was the approach that was developed to tackle the inequities of society, an approach that
had its foundation in Marxism, and interpretivism was a response to the positivist approach.
Interpretivism emphasized that reality cannot be explained by applying the same set of research
methods to all problems.
With the end of the enlightenment period in the 18th century, a new criticism of the logical
positivism approach was voiced by the philosopher Sir Karl Popper, who argued that it was not
always possible to arrive at the truth. Data inconsistencies, selection bias, and poor instruments
lead to disproving any hypothesis. This thinking gave rise to the falsification approach and was
termed as postpositivism and is discussed at length in Chapter 3. The third chapter is an
extension of Chapter 2 and points out the differences between positivism and postpositivism,
and postpositivism and critical theory with examples of each approach. The authors suggest
that postpositivist research is generally conducted in an objective scientific fashion, while the
critical theory is a subjective inquiry into uncovering the power relationships between the
owners and the workers.
Chapter 4 takes an in-depth look at interpretivism, a paradigm, which, according to
the authors, is “influenced and shaped by the preexisting theories and world views of the
researchers” (p. 96). Interpretivism, thus, is a socially constructed phenomenon and differs
from positivism and critical theories in that this approach does not believe in making broad
conclusions, but offers deeper understanding of a particular situation. The chapter also dis-
cusses the implications of interpretivism, the authors point out that this approach could be the
most difficult to comprehend because of its openness to its approach of research. The chap-
ter concludes with an attempt to provide examples of past studies that employ interpretivist
approaches to understanding the phenomena.
The first part of Chapter 5 divides the history of qualitative research into eight moments,
starting from the traditional period (early 1900s to 1945) to the current state of affairs in
the U.S. politics that draws on a more positivist approach. The second half of the chapter
provides the readers with alternative frameworks such as: analytic realism, Eisner’s con-
noisseurship, semiotics, structuralism, poststructuralism, and analytic induction all of which
are alternative frameworks used by researchers to perform qualitative research. Chapters 6
through 9 provide the readers with methodological approaches used in performing qualitative
inquiry.
Chapter 6 is the most compelling chapter. It urges proponents of positivism to re-think their
position on conducting research by offering guidelines to perform qualitative research. These
include accepting and seeking multiple perspectives, being open to change, practicing iterative
and emergent data collection techniques, promoting participatory and holistic research, and
going beyond the inductive and deductive approach. The latter part of this chapter addresses
584 Book reviews

the important issues of validity and reliability, an area that the authors acknowledge has not
reached consensus among qualitative researchers. The historical and theoretical information
provided in the previous chapters makes the placement of this chapter pertinent. The following
chapter is a good overview of the types of traditional and emerging techniques that can be
employed while conducting qualitative research.
Chapter 7 discusses a host of methods employed while conducting a qualitative study. These
include ethnography, interviews, case studies, historiography, and an emerging set of qualitative
research methods called participatory action research and emancipatory research, all of which
can be used to analyze and interpret data. The final chapter offers a brief discussion about two
new theoretical perspectives—poetic logic and complexity theory as emerging perspectives in
the realm of social science research.
In sum, the book has several strengths. It is well organized and written. The author has
attempted to go beyond the problems of data analysis by providing a historical context under
which the three major world views have emerged. In addition, throughout the text several
article summaries of related topics along with their web links are provided for the readers.
This makes it a very attractive feature especially for graduate students who wish to gain
additional knowledge in a particular area of interest. I would recommend this book as a sup-
plemental read in an introductory graduate class on qualitative research across disciplines
in the social sciences. This book also will appeal to audiences who wish to gain an under-
standing about the theory involved behind qualitative research. It is important to note that this
is not a “how to” book on qualitative research. If one is looking for a book that will teach
a particular technique to conduct qualitative study, this book may not be the answer. How-
ever, this book could aid a researcher in choosing an appropriate framework for conducting a
study.

Meghna Sabharwal
School of Public Affairs,
Arizona State University,
411 N. Central Avenue, Mail Code 3720,
Phoenix, AZ 85004-0687, United States
E-mail address: msabhar@asu.edu

doi: 10.1016/j.soscij.2007.07.007