The authors provide a contemporary perspective on the status of qualitative research in gerontology. The second edition examines recent trends in the application of qualitative methodologies and the emergence of new qualitative techniques such as focus groups, studies of personal histories, and the use of photography. Chapters include discussions of critical and feminist perspectives, practice issues, ethical issues, and the contribution of qualitative research to the progress of science.

Graham D. Rowles, PhD, is Founding Director of the Graduate Center for Gerontology and Chair of the Department of Gerontology, University of Kentucky. He is a Professor of Gerontology with joint appointments in Nursing, Behavioral Science, Geography and Health Behavior.

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Contributors
Preface
Part I: Introduction

1. Back to the Future, Nancy E. Schoenberg and Graham D. Rowles

Part II: Telling Stories
Introduction, Hege Ravdal

2. Guided Autobiography: In Search of Ordinary Wisdom, Gary M. Kenyon
3. The Study of Lives in Progress: Approaches to Research on Life Stories, Johannes J.F. Schroots and James E. Birren

Part III: Being There
Introduction, Sharon R. Kaufman

4. Ethnography of the Particular: The Individual Case and the Culture of Death in America, Sharon R. Kaufman
5. Participant Observations of a Participant Observer, Juliet M. Corbin
6. Online Ethnography: Studying Group Dynamics of a Virtual Community of Dementia Caregivers, Margaret A. Perkinson

Part IV: ""Let's Talk""
Introduction, Nancy E. Schoenberg

7. The Qualitative Interview With Older Informants: Some Key Questions, Robert L. Rubinsten
8. The Active Subject in Qualitative Gerontology, Jaber F. Gubrium and James A. Holstein

Part V: Hybrid Vigor
Introduction, Nancy E. Schoenberg

9. Counting and Recounting: Approaches to Combining Quantitative and Qualitative Data and Methods, Lisa Groger and Jane K. Straker
10. Maximizing Methods: Interviewers as Informants, J. Kevin Eckert and Sheryl I. Zimmerman
11. Seeking Diagnosis for a Cognitively Impaired Family Member: Evidence from Focus Groups, David L. Morgan

Part VI: Looking and Seeing
Introduction, Graham D. Rowles

12. A Picture is Worth...:The Use of Photography in Gerontological Research, Dena Shenk and Ronald M. Schmid
13. Seeing the Unseen: Literary Interpretation in Qualitative Gerontology, Maria D. Vesperi

Part VII: Perspective

14. Forward to the Past, Nancy E. Schoenberg and Graham D. Rowles

Index"