Description:
Creative Team Work describes a new way of doing rapid ethnography to capture the rich complexity and contradictions of social relations. It is about the imagination, stimulation, and reflection that can come with international, interdisciplinary teams sharing the development, application, analysis, and dissemination of research. Although the book is based on a large, seven-year project studying care homes to search for promising practices and is guided by feminist political economy, the lessons we have learned are relevant for everyone undertaking empirical investigation. All research needs to consider theory -- the organization of information, ethics, and dissemination, for example. The specific techniques and approaches the authors discuss can be applied to a wide range of qualitative methods and are not exclusive to this kind of ethnography. By dissecting experiences and uniting chapters through the theme of creative, reflexive team work, the book considers issues and methods of interest to all those struggling through the research process, with or without team support.
Review Quotes:
"In Creative Teamwork, a group of researchers tell a fascinating story about developing a new approach to ethnographic research. The authors explore how they wrestled with reflexivity, engagement, analysis, writing, and other theoretical and methodological issues over the course of creating and doing what they call 'rapid, site-switching, team-based ethnography.' The result is an important and engaging narrative about the possibilities of ethnographic research that is genuinely collaborative, interdisciplinary, and international."
- Eric Mykhalovskiy, PhD, Professor, Department of Sociology, York University
"One of the greatest strengths of Creative Teamwork is that it explores and elaborates on the processes, ethical dilemmas, and behind-the-scenes decision-making of conducting interdisciplinary team research and shows how it is played out in actual case examples. The volume also puts emphasis on knowledge sharing and informed interventions-topics that have become increasingly important when seeking research funding and applying research results to larger contexts. I believe this book goes a long way in addressing these emerging needs."
- Amy Zaharlick, PhD, Emeritus Associate Professor, Ohio State University