INTRODUCTION

The sources of qualitative method, and of the ideas surrounding it, are various, but one of the most important is what has come to be called ‘Chicago sociology’. This originated in the Chicago Department of Sociology in the 1920s and 1930s, and was transmitted to and developed by several generations of students at Chicago, and elsewhere. Members of this tradition have not only produced studies that have served as exemplars of qualitative research, but have also written articles and books about qualitative methodology that have been used as guides by many neophyte qualitative researchers.3