Abstract
The Research Journey: Introduction to Inquiry is a welcome addition to a wide range of research handbooks in the market. I thoroughly enjoyed being taken on the ‘journey’ to engage with an introduction to social scientific research that Rallis and Rossman present. It is a journey containing the authors’ rich research and teaching experiences. The book is very well written and organised in an accessible way that will enable students at different levels of study to benefit from.
As a teacher and researcher in Social Sciences, the book offers intriguing insights into innovative ways of approaching and explaining central theoretical and practical questions in methodology. In particular, the learning activities outlined throughout the book are useful for teachers in the field, providing lots of examples of learning by doing. In each chapter, the authors use a number of interesting questions to guide readers through an understanding of abstract concepts. The dialogues among student learners at the beginning of each chapter may be pedagogically highly productive to ease students into making sense of methodology in what often appears as a new and difficult language. For example, in Chapter 2, the dialogue illustrates an effective way of introducing readers to philosophical discussions on ontology and epistemology through a conversation among a group of students talking about ‘what do we know’, and ‘how do we know about it’. The authors as experienced teachers have skilfully facilitated such challenging theoretical discussion for students as they begin their ‘journey’. This style of presentation of the material reads like the cultural induction of apprentices into a new field of knowledge.
Another strength of the book is what I understand as the ‘itinerary’ of the journey. The theoretical and applied components within the book are equally and logically distributed. Alongside the theoretical discussions, some practical engagements, such as discussion on ‘Being an Ethical Inquirer’ (Chapter 4), ‘Constructing Conceptual Frameworks’ (Chapter 5), ‘Designing the Inquiry Project’ (Chapter 6) and ‘Things to Consider in Writing’ (Chapter 7) are very well designed to engage the student. As a textbook, the authors skilfully provide a wide range of illustrations about how the interplay between theory, methods and the position of inquirers leads to different elements of knowledge production, from theoretical framing, data collection and analysis, to writing up for different audiences.
The book also encourages readers to become independent thinkers. It enables readers to become reflexive and adaptable inquirers, not just reading it as a textbook but enabling them through the activities to use and reflect on their personal experience. As they state at the end of the book, ‘you may note that you cannot control use; you can only seek to promote use through your choices’ (pp. 168). Overall, The Research Journey: Introduction to Inquiry accomplishes what it sets out to achieve, an inclusive text that is pedagogically sophisticated in highlighting the enjoyment of engaging in social science. I will highly recommend it to my colleagues and students.