Rapid Qualitative Inquiry

Practitioners in need of timely results for program and policy planningand students looking forrealistic research projectswill find solutions in Rapid Qualitative Inquiry (RQI), a team-based,applied research method designed to quickly develop an insider's perspective on and preliminaryunderstanding of complicated ';on-the-ground' situations.In this accessible field guide to RQI, James Beebe provides an introduction to research thatsubstitutes teamwork for long-term fieldwork; uses iterative data collection, data analysis, andadditional data collection; triangulates data from multiple sources; and applies techniques andconcepts from ethnography and case study research. Extensive examples make clear that ';rapid'does not mean ';rushed' and that rigorous RQI depends upon flexibility rather than an arbitrarylist of techniques. Throughout, Beebe's clear prose guides interdisciplinary readers through theprocess, promise, and potential pitfalls of RQI.