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Qualitative Research Evaluation Methods Integrating
Theory and Practice Michael Quinn Patton Digital
Instant Download
Author(s): Michael Quinn Patton
ISBN(s): 9781412972123, 1412972124
Edition: Hardcover
File Details: PDF, 29.74 MB
Year: 2015
Language: english

To
Calla Quinn,
my first grandchild,
born during the gestation of this book,
the fifth generation in our family line to carry
the middle name Quinn,
two before me, two after me,
and the first female to do so.
Whatever the future holds, uncertain as it inherently is,
new opportunities worthy of, and in need of,
in-depth qualitative inquiry and illumination
are sure to emerge.
3

Copyright © 2015 by SAGE Publications, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Patton, Michael Quinn.
[Qualitative evaluation methods]
Qualitative research & evaluation methods : integrating theory and practice / Michael Quinn Patton.—Fourth edition.
pages cm
Revised edition of the author’s Qualitative evaluation methods.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4129-7212-3 (alk. paper)
1. Social sciences—Methodology. 2. Evaluation research (Social action programs) I. Title. II. Title: Qualitative research and evaluation
methods.
H62.P3218 2014
001.4’2—dc23 2014029195
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
14 15 16 17 18 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
5

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6

Brief Contents
Preface
About the Author
List of Exhibits
Part 1 Framing Qualitative Inquiry: Theory Informs Practice, Practice Informs Theory
Chapter 1. The Nature, Niche, Value, and Fruit of Qualitative Inquiry
Chapter 2. Strategic Themes in Qualitative Inquiry
Chapter 3. Variety of Qualitative Inquiry Frameworks: Paradigmatic, Philosophical, and Theoretical
Orientations
Chapter 4. Practical and Actionable Qualitative Applications
Part 2 Qualitative Designs and Data Collection
Chapter 5. Designing Qualitative Studies
Chapter 6. Fieldwork Strategies and Observation Methods
Chapter 7. Qualitative Interviewing
Part 3 Analysis, Interpretation, and Reporting
Chapter 8. Qualitative Analysis and Interpretation
Chapter 9. Enhancing the Quality and Credibility of Qualitative Studies
References
Author Index
Subject Index
7

Contents
Preface
About the Author
List of Exhibits
Part 1 Framing Qualitative Inquiry: Theory Informs Practice, Practice Informs Theory
Chapter 1. The Nature, Niche, Value, and Fruit of Qualitative Inquiry
Book Overview and Chapter Preview
Module 1 How Qualitative Inquiry Contributes to Our Understanding of the World
Module 2 What Makes Qualitative Data Qualitative
Module 3 Making Methods Decisions
Module 4 The Fruit of Qualitative Methods: Chapter Summary and Conclusion
Application Exercises
Chapter 2. Strategic Themes in Qualitative Inquiry
Chapter Preview
Module 5 Strategic Design Principles for Qualitative Inquiry
Module 6 Strategic Principles Guiding Data Collection and Fieldwork
Module 7 Strategic Principles for Qualitative Analysis and Reporting Findings
Module 8 Integrating the 12 Strategic Qualitative Principles in Practice: Chapter Summary and
Conclusion
Chapter 3. Variety of Qualitative Inquiry Frameworks: Paradigmatic, Philosophical, and Theoretical
Orientations
Chapter Preview
Module 9 Understanding the Paradigms Debate: Quants Versus Quals
Module 10 Introduction to Qualitative Inquiry Frameworks
Module 11 Ethnography and Autoethnography
Module 12 Positivism, Postpositivism, Empiricism, and Foundationalist Epistemologies
Module 13 Grounded Theory and Realism
Module 14 Phenomenology and Heuristic Inquiry
8

Module 15 Social Constructionism, Constructivism, Postmodernism, and Narrative Inquiry
Module 16 Ethnomethodology, Semiotics, Symbolic Interaction, and Hermeneutics
Module 17 Systems Theory and Complexity Theory
Module 18 Pragmatism, Generic Qualitative Inquiry, and Utilization-Focused Evaluation
Module 19 Patterns and Themes Across Inquiry Frameworks: Chapter Summary and Conclusions
Chapter 4. Practical and Actionable Qualitative Applications
Chapter Preview
Module 20 Practical Purposes, Concrete Questions, and Actionable Answers: Illuminating and
Enhancing Quality
Module 21 Program Evaluation Applications: Focus on Outcomes
Module 22 Specialized Qualitative Evaluation Applications
Module 23 Evaluating Program Models and Theories of Change, and Evaluation Models Especially
Aligned With Qualitative Methods
Module 24 Interactive and Participatory Qualitative Applications
Module 25 Democratic Evaluation, Indigenous Research and Evaluation, Capacity Building, and
Cultural Competence
Module 26 Special Methodological Applications
Module 27 A Vision of the Utility of Qualitative Methods: Chapter Summary and Conclusion
Part 2 Qualitative Designs and Data Collection
Chapter 5. Designing Qualitative Studies
Chapter Preview
Module 28 Design Thinking: Questions Derive From Purpose, Design Answers Questions
Module 29 Data Collection Decisions
Module 30 Purposeful Sampling and Case Selection: Overview of Strategies and Options
Module 31 Single-Significant-Case Sampling as a Design Strategy
Module 32 Comparison-Focused Sampling Options
Module 33 Group Characteristics Sampling Strategies and Options
Module 34 Concept and Theoretical Sampling Strategies and Options
Module 35 Instrumental-Use Multiple-Case Sampling
9

Module 36 Sequential and Emergence-Driven Sampling Strategies and Options
Module 37 Analytically Focused Sampling
Module 38 Mixed, Stratified, and Nested Purposeful Sampling Strategies
Module 39 Information-Rich Cases
Module 40 Sample Size for Qualitative Designs
Module 41 Mixed-Methods Designs
Module 42 Qualitative Design Chapter Summary and Conclusion: Methods Choices and Decisions
Chapter 6. Fieldwork Strategies and Observation Methods
Chapter Preview
Module 43 The Power of Direct Observation
Module 44 Variations in Observational Methods
Module 45 Variations in Duration of Observations and Site Visits: From Rapid Reconnaissance to
Longitudinal Studies Over Years
Module 46 Variations in Observational Focus and Summary of Dimensions Along Which Fieldwork
Varies
Module 47 What to Observe: Sensitizing Concepts
Module 48 Integrating What to Observe With How to Observe
Module 49 Unobtrusive Observations and Indicators; and Documents and Archival Fieldwork
Module 50 Observing Oneself: Reflexivity and Creativity, and Review of Fieldwork Dimensions
Module 51 Doing Fieldwork: The Data Gathering Process
Module 52 Stages of Fieldwork: Entry Into the Field
Module 53 Routinization of Fieldwork: The Dynamics of the Second Stage
Module 54 Bringing Fieldwork to a Close
Module 55 The Observer and What Is Observed: Unity, Separation, and Reactivity
Module 56 Chapter Summary and Conclusion: Guidelines for Fieldwork
Chapter 7. Qualitative Interviewing
Chapter Preview
Module 57 The Interview Society: Diversity of Applications
Module 58 Distinguishing Interview Approaches and Types of Interviews
Module 59 Question Options and Skilled Question Formulation
10

Module 60 Rapport, Neutrality, and the Interview Relationship
Module 61 Interviewing Groups and Cross-Cultural Interviewing
Module 62 Creative Modes of Qualitative Inquiry
Module 63 Ethical Issues and Challenges in Qualitative Interviewing
Module 64 Personal Reflections on Interviewing, and Chapter Summary and Conclusion
Part 3 Analysis, Interpretation, and Reporting
Chapter 8. Qualitative Analysis and Interpretation
Chapter Preview
Module 65 Establishing a Strong Foundation for Qualitative Analysis: Covering the Basics
Module 66 Thick Description and Case Studies: The Bedrock of Qualitative Analysis
Module 67 Qualitative Analysis Approaches: Identifying Patterns and Themes
Module 68 The Intellectual and Operational Work of Analysis
Module 69 Logical and Matrix Analyses, and Synthesizing Qualitative Studies
Module 70 Interpreting Findings, Determining Substantive Significance, Elucidating
Phenomenological Essence, and Hermeneutic Interpretation
Module 71 Causal Explanation Thorough Qualitative Analysis
Module 72 New Analysis Directions: Contribution Analysis, Participatory Analysis, and Qualitative
Counterfactuals
Module 73 Writing Up and Reporting Findings, Including Using Visuals
Module 74 Special Analysis and Reporting Issues: Mixed Methods, Focused Communication,
Principles-Focused Report Exemplar, and Creativity
Module 75 Chapter Summary and Conclusion, Plus Case Study Exhibits
Chapter 9. Enhancing the Quality and Credibility of Qualitative Studies
Chapter Preview
Module 76 Analytical Processes for Enhancing Credibility: Systematically Engaging and Questioning
the Data
Module 77 Four Triangulation Processes for Enhancing Credibility
Module 78 Alternative and Competing Criteria for Judging the Quality of Qualitative Inquiries, Part
1: Universal Criteria and Traditional Scientific Research Versus Constructivist Criteria
Module 79 Alternative and Competing Criteria, Part 2: Artistic, Participatory, Critical Change,
11

Systems, Pragmatic, and Mixed Criteria
Module 80 Credibility of the Inquirer
Module 81 Generalizations, Extrapolations, Transferability, Principles, and Lessons Learned
Module 82 Enhancing the Credibility and Utility of Qualitative Inquiry by Addressing Philosophy of
Science Issues
References
Author Index
Subject Index
12

Preface
For a very long time everyone has decried the futility of prefaces—yet everyone keeps writing them. We
all know that readers (an already optimistic plural) skip them, which should itself be valid reason not to
write any more.
—Preface to Fortunio (a romantic tale, 1836) by Theophile Gautier (1811–1872),
French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic
This quotation opens a preface by Professor Clement Moisan, University of Laval Quebec, Canada, to a
qualitative analysis of literary prefaces by Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek (1993), University of Alberta,
Edmonton, Canada, for his doctoral dissertation. Thus, the preface is a phenomenon that constitutes a literary
genre that manifests substantial variation. That variation can be studied, coded, classified, and labeled, thereby
generating a typology of prefaces, which is precisely what Tötösy de Zepetnek did through “analysis of the
systemic dimensions of the preface typologies and of the systemic data of the prefaces.” His analysis included
examining how prefaces are produced, their content, how they are received, and how they have come to be
viewed as a genre. His comparative analysis examined different kinds of prefaces for different kinds of works. I
found myself especially drawn to a type of preface he labels “preemptive,” in which the author attempts to
predispose and engage the readers by anticipating their reactions. I can imagine, for example, a reader of this
preface reacting, “Enough with analyzing prefaces already. Get on with the preface.”
But not yet, Dear Reader (a style of engagement aimed at endearing the reader to the author, and vice
versa), for there is more. The preface is but one manifestation of a larger phenomenon, any writing that
precedes and/or explains a work of writing, music, or art. Thus, in addition to prefaces, there are forewords,
epigraphs, introductions, preambles, prologues, preludes, overtures, invocations, and, my personal favorite, the
prolegomenon. To which, Dear Patient Reader, I now turn.
Prolegomenon Purposes: The Journey to This Fourth Edition
Lately it occurs to me: What a long, strange trip it’s been.
—Robert C. Hunter
American lyricist who collaborated with the Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan, among many others
Ironically, writing a preface comes at the end of the writing journey. Your beginning, my ending.
13

I aim to do four things in this prefactory, prological prolegomenon. First, to explain and justify why the
book is so long. And no, despite initial evidence here to the contrary, it’s not because of a proliferation of long,
redundant phrases like prefactory, prological prolegomenon. Nor, rumors to the contrary, is it because authors are
paid by the word (Writers beta, 2012). It’s because in the decade since the third edition of this book came out
(Patton, 2002), qualitative methods have flourished. Why, how so, and with what implications (they are
huge), I’ll address momentarily.
A second purpose involves telling you how this fourth edition is different from (and so much better than)
the third edition. I should perhaps note in this regard that this book is about both research and evaluation
methods. The judgment that this new edition is so much better than the last is an exemplar of a form called
“self-evaluation,” which should alert those of you who may be new to the field to the fact that self-evaluations
are held in very high esteem and considered extraordinarily credible.
The third function of a preface is to acknowledge and thank those who have helped me along the way. I
have not been alone on this long, strange journey.
Finally, and very seriously, there is the book’s dedication to elaborate and luxuriate in.
From the First, to Second, to Third, to Fourth Edition
What’s past is prologue.
—William Shakespeare
Antonio to Sebastian, The Tempest
The first edition of this book appeared in 1980. At the time, there was very little literature dedicated to the
nuts and bolts of how to do qualitative inquiry, especially as an approach to program evaluation. The second
edition, in 1990, began the process, continued in this latest revision, of integrating theory and practice. The
third edition, published in 2002, noted the growth of interest in qualitative methods and observed that “the
upshot of all the developmental work in qualitative methods is that there is now as much variation among
qualitative researchers as there is between qualitatively and quantitatively oriented scholars and evaluators”
(Patton, 2002, p. xxii). Thus, the primary purpose of the third edition was to sort out the major alternative
perspectives in the diversity of qualitative approaches that had emerged and examine the influences of that
diversity on applications, especially but not exclusively in program evaluation, policy analysis, and action
research, and across applied social sciences generally—which brings us to this fourth edition.
In doing this revision, I reviewed well over 1,000 new qualitative resources published in the past decade: the
latest books on qualitative methods, recent qualitative studies, scholarly and applied journal articles, program
evaluations, case studies, monographs, and dissertations. The volume of qualitative research and evaluation
has exploded exponentially. More important, in my judgment, the quality has been enhanced by deeper
14

reflections on the nature and variety of qualitative inquiry, more methodological and analytical options and
sophistication, and greatly expanded outlets for publication of qualitative works. To do even minor justice to
the diverse flowering of qualitative inquiry has meant a substantial increase in the length of this edition.
What’s New in This Edition?
• Substantive highlights
Chapter 1 opens with extensive new examples of how qualitative inquiry contributes to our
understanding of the world. These examples are aimed at illuminating the nature, niche, value, and fruit
of qualitative inquiry.
Chapter 2 provides up-to-date references and examples for the 12 strategic themes of qualitative
inquiry.
Chapter 3, on the variety of qualitative inquiry frameworks (paradigmatic, philosophical, and
theoretical orientations), includes updated references and examples, with new sections on pragmatism
and generic qualitative inquiry as distinct approaches, as well as new directions in and more in-depth
treatment of realism, systems theory, and complexity theory as relevant to qualitative inquiry.
Chapter 4 has added examples of practical purposes, concrete questions, and actionable answers, with
special attention to international research and evaluation studies and findings. (The year 2015 has been
designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Evaluation.)
Chapter 5 has expanded the crucial qualitative design discussion of purposeful sampling from 16
options in the third edition to 40 distinct case selection approaches in this new edition. Mixed-methods
designs have become increasingly important and get much added attention in this edition.
Chapter 6, on qualitative observation and fieldwork, includes attention to how technological
developments have increased data collection options.
Chapter 7, on qualitative interviewing, examines new opportunities afforded by social media, the
Internet, and social networking, as well as the challenges of remote and virtual interviewing. Distinct
forms and approaches to interviewing that derive from different theoretical orientations are discussed and
illustrated.
Chapter 8, on qualitative data analysis and reporting, includes more in-depth treatment of case study
creation and cross-case analysis; examines the trend toward greater use of visual representations
(visualization as a powerful communication tool) and the emergence of principles-focused evaluation as a
new, complexity-based approach; and provides extensive discussion of causal inference in qualitative
analysis.
Chapter 9 has updated and deepened ways of enhancing the credibility and utility of qualitative
15

findings with systematic ways of thinking about and addressing rigor in qualitative studies, and
innovative approaches to extrapolating qualitative findings and dealing with issues of generalizing results.
The third edition included review of five distinct sets of criteria for judging the quality of qualitative
studies; this new edition adds two new sets of criteria and revises the former sets.
• Modules: To make the book more manageable, the nine lengthy chapters are now organized into more
digestible modules, 82 in all.
• Exhibits: Creating exhibits involves summarizing discussion of complex issues into major points;
bringing coherence, succinctness, and closure to a topic; and making that summary readily available for
ease of review. The third edition had 59 exhibits. This new edition has 148. Here’s a foreshadowing of
10 new exhibits, 1 per chapter plus a bonus, which will also provide a preview of some of the new
material in this edition.
Exhibit 1.9 Qualitative Inquiry Pioneers (Prepare to be surprised by who’s been considered for this
unique, world premier honor role. Let me know who you think has been inappropriately left out.)
Exhibit 2.6 Twelve Core Strategies of Qualitative Inquiry: Interdependent and Interactive
Exhibit 3.19 Distinguishing and Understanding Alternative Inquiry Frameworks: Cross-Cutting
Themes
Exhibit 4.11 Reflective Practice Guide
Exhibit 5.15 Outline for a Qualitative Inquiry Design Proposal
Exhibit 6.3 Ethical Issues in Qualitative Research on Internet Communities
Exhibit 7.15 Ten Examples of Variations in Cross-Cultural Norms That Can Affect Interviewing
and Qualitative Fieldwork
Exhibit 8.18 Ten Approaches to Qualitative Causal Analysis
Exhibit 8.27 Mixed Methods Challenges and Solutions
Exhibit 9.14 Twelve Perspectives on and Approaches to Generalization of Qualitative Findings
• More case study exemplars: One of the most common requests I get is for more examples of case
studies and qualitative reporting. Both are important. Both require space. I’ve added both, which has
contributed to the increased size of this fourth edition.
• Ruminations: In celebration of this new edition, I have indulged in one personal rumination per
chapter. These are issues that have persistently engaged, sometimes annoyed, occasionally haunted, and
often amused me over more than 40 years of qualitative research and evaluation practice. In these
ruminations, I state my case on the issue and make my peace with it. Examples are dismissing qualitative
16

case studies as merely “anecdotal”; poor-quality site visits in program evaluations; untrained interviewers
unaware of the skills and rigor involved in high-quality qualitative interviewing; and avoiding qualitative
research rigor mortis.
I originally called these “rants,” but a couple of external reviewers said that label evoked painful memories of
certain excruciating faculty meetings, which inclined them to dismiss the rant without even reading it. I
considered other terms: fulminations, tirades, declamations, and one that almost made the final cut, tub-
thumbing: engaging in impassioned utterance. I quite like that. But I eventually settled on rumination: “the act
of pondering.”
• Sidebars: Sidebars are boxed items of interest that supplement the text with examples and extended
quotations from knowledgeable qualitative theorists and practitioners. They are a way of highlighting
experts’ insights, case study exemplars, supplementary readings, and additional resources. More than 100
new sidebars have been added throughout the book.
• Updated references: As I reviewed the vast new literature on qualitative methods and the thousands of
qualitative and mixed-methods studies that have been published in the past decade, and having tracked
the literature over the past 40 years, my sense is that more qualitative works have appeared in the past
decade than in all the preceding years combined. Simply skimming the references will give you a sense of
the amount and diversity of qualitative research and evaluation that has been and is being published. I am
indebted to Jean Gornick for helping me track, update, and organize the references, and even more for
her personal support throughout the writing.
• Unique chapter symbols: Each chapter has a unique symbol that sets the stage for the chapter’s content
and is then used to introduce modules in that chapter. For example, the symbol for Chapter 1 is the
wisdom knot.
Nyansapo, “wisdom knot,” Adinkra (West Africa) symbol of wisdom, ingenuity, intelligence, and patience. This symbol conveys the idea
that a wise person has the capacity to select the best means to achieve a goal. Being wise means knowing how to apply broad knowledge,
learning, and experience for practical purposes (Willis, 1998).
• Halcolm: There’s new wisdom from Halcolm (pronounced “How come,” as in “Why”), my internal
philosophical alter ego and muse, who pipes in every so often to remind us that qualitative inquiry is
grounded in fundamental philosophical underpinnings about how and why the world works as it does.
Halcolm takes the form of an elderly sage in new graphic comics at the end of each chapter. Art teacher
and cartoonist Andrew Wales created these comic renditions of Halcolm parables, for which I am deeply
grateful. They serve as a meditative transition between chapters. (See more of Andrew’s creative work at
http://andrewwales.blogspot.com/.)
• New cartoons: Cartoons invite us to see things in a different way, both less and more seriously at the
same time. This edition includes new cartoons by Mark Rogers and Chris Lysy
(www.freshspectrum.com), both practicing program evaluators who bring insightful humor to what many
17

experience as a largely humorless enterprise. Claudius Ceccon, a distinguished Brazilian political
cartoonist and father-in-law of Brazilian evaluator Thomaz Chianca, has also contributed five
provocative and evocative cartoons.
• Application exercises: For the first time, this new edition includes practice exercises at the end of each
chapter. These include opportunities to apply the content of a chapter to your own arenas of interest and
expertise.
Style Note: On Using Quotations
All books fail to be everything their authors hoped.
—Scott Sandage (2014)
Cultural historian
I often use quotations to introduce new sections, like this one. Or Shakespeare’s “What’s past is prologue,”
used earlier. I think of such quotations as garnishes, seasoning, and a bit of amuse-bouche (a French gourmet
tradition of serving an appetizer that is not on the menu but, when served, is done so without charge and
entirely at the chef’s discretion and preference). For the most part, these are not scholarly quotations, nor are
they usually referenced. In the spirit of the gastronomic metaphors offered here, they are palate cleansers as you
move from one topic to another.
Some people, I am told, find such quotations annoying (including one external reviewer of this book for
whom I have direct evidence of disdain). Well, you know, you don’t have to eat the garnish. If you don’t like
it, skip it. Like spam or unwelcome e-mails that you instantly delete, move past them quickly. I offer the same
counsel with regard to Halcolm stories, cartoons, fables, sidebars, extended examples, personal reflections, and
my ruminations. Some view them as distractions. Exercise control. Chose the alternate path. Delete from your
reading. They’re there for the many folks who write and tell me that those are their favorite parts of the book
and what keeps them going through the more traditional academic and methodological stuff.
Qualitative inquiry is fundamentally about capturing, appreciating, and making sense of diverse
perspectives. Different people resonate to different aspects of a book, both content and style. I’ve included a
variety of ways of engaging readers in hopes of hitting on an approach that works for you, Dear Reader. But in
the end, I confess, as the author I include cartoons, quotations, Halcolm stories, and fables because they
amuse and enlighten me.
Acknowledgments and Collaborations
Your corn is ripe today; mine will be so tomorrow.
18

’Tis profitable for us both, that I should labour with you today, and that you should aid me tomorrow.
—David Hume (1711–1776)
Scottish philosopher
My initial foray into qualitative writing was entirely due to the persuasive powers of Sara Miller McCune,
cofounder with her husband, George, of SAGE Publications. She had shepherded my first book, Utilization-
Focused Evaluation (1978), into print. Based on that book’s advocacy of applying the criterion of utility to
methods decisions, she urged me to write a qualitative companion. Her vision and follow-through have made
SAGE Publications the leading publisher of both program evaluation and qualitative inquiry books. In 2015,
SAGE celebrates its 50th anniversary as this book celebrates its 35th. Vicki Knight, my current SAGE editor,
provided ongoing support throughout the arduous and overly long process of completing this new edition. She
arranged excellent external reviewers who provided helpful and timely feedback to improve the final
manuscript, for which I am grateful and you can be as well, for they were especially useful in clarifying
obfuscations, eliminating redundancies, and increasing overall coherence and integration.
Only one person has been a constant companion and fellow traveler on this long, strange trip through all
four editions, my friend and colleague Malcolm Gray. In the 1970s, Malcolm cocreated and codirected a
wilderness leadership development program in the southwestern United States. He came across an essay on
evaluation that I had written and contacted me about evaluating the program, which I did through participant
observation. It is one of the examples featured in this book. We subsequently became hiking companions,
logging many miles and weeks in the Grand Canyon, about which I wrote a book (Patton, 1999). Malcolm
has engaged in a great deal of qualitative inquiry over the years and teaches qualitative methods seminars to
doctoral students at Capella University. Based on his research and teaching, our discussions about long-
enduring issues and new directions have had a major influence on every edition of this book, including most
certainly this one.
On the other end of the time continuum is the most recent contributor to the book, Matthew Cameron-
Rogers, a graduate student at the University of Melbourne. He took on the gargantuan task of reading the
entire near-final manuscript for coherence, redundancy, nonsensical passages, missing words and phrases,
typographical errors, and other authorial sins of both commission and omission. He did so quickly and
thoroughly, providing valuable feedback. I predict a brilliant career ahead for him in qualitative research. You
heard it here first.
I opened this preface with reference to a study of prefaces. I also examined other prefaces in search of
inspiration. That’s how I came across Bob Stake’s prefactory exemplar in his important and influential book
Multiple Case Study Analysis (2006), cited often herein. Bob lists every single graduate student he’s ever
advised: seven-plus pages of names in small font. I felt like I was viewing a celebratory version of the Vietnam
War Memorial in Washington, D.C., this one honoring survivors and thrivers rather than those who
perished. Bob has created a precedent impossible to emulate, at least for me. I began to list the many
19

colleagues, students, workshop participants, and evaluation clients to whom I am indebted and who deserve
acknowledgment for their contributions to my understanding and writing over the years. The task soon felt
overwhelming. Every yin deserves its yang, so I’m going to the opposite extreme and not acknowledging
anyone else by name. Now that I have reached this fourth edition and traveled many qualitative miles over
many, many years, the list of those to whom I am indebted is too long and the danger of leaving out
important influences too great for me to include such traditional acknowledgments here. I can only refer the
reader to the references and stories in the book as a starting point.
Special thanks to current and former University of Minnesota graduate students who helped with final
proofreading: Gifty Amarteiifio, Hanife Cakici, Michaelle L. Gensinger, Melissa Haynes, Mary Karlsson,
David Milavetz, Anna Kiel Martin, Nora Murphy, and Gayra Ostgaard.
I would also like to acknowledge the following reviewers of this edition: Susan S. Manning, University of
Denver; Eva Mika, Northcentral University; Allison Zippay, Rutgers University; Karina Dancza, Canterbury
Christ Church University; C. Victor Fung, University of South Florida; Virginia E. Hines, Ferris State
University; Kathleen A. Bolland, the University of Alabama; Dan Kaczynski, Central Michigan University;
Suzanne M. Leland, University of North Carolina at Charlotte; and Michael P. O'Malley, Texas State
University.
Dedication
I close this preface with some personal history. Qualitative inquiry is personal. The researcher is the
instrument of inquiry. This theme will be reiterated throughout the book, including at the beginning of the
first chapter and in the closing of the final chapter. The redundant emphasis is intentional, for the personal
and interpersonal nature of qualitative inquiry is its great strength, a source of direct experiential insight. It is
also what sparks controversy among those whose very definition of research involves excluding the personal
and interpersonal as potential sources of bias. In this prolegomenon, I am foreshadowing that discussion and
debate, which we’ll examine in depth along the way. All I’ll say at this point is that what is going on in your
life during qualitative fieldwork may well become part of your methodological documentation, for it can affect
both data collection and analysis, and therefore deserves attention and reflection.
This book is dedicated to Calla Quinn Campbell-Burke, who was born during the book’s development.
Calla is my first grandchild, my daughter Charmagne Elise Campbell-Patton’s first child. Charmagne has
become a qualitative evaluator in her own right, which bodes well (from my perspective) for passing on
qualitative genes.
The writing of each edition of this book has been marked in my memory by significant family events. I
began the first edition just after my middle son, Julius Quinn Campbell, now a biomechanical engineer, was
born. I often dictated portions of the book walking with him in a backpack. The second edition was written
during the year when my oldest son, Brandon Quinn Tchombiano Patton, was in his senior year in high
school, a momentous year in our family’s life as he prepared to go off to college. The third edition was written
20

as Charmagne was finishing college, completing the educational journey from preschool through college for
all three of my children. This fourth edition has been dominated by the birth of my first grandchild. Indeed, I
was in the midst of conducting a webinar that included qualitative evaluation when she was born, and those
participants from around the world became part of the experience as I took a break to rush to the hospital and
meet Calla for the first time.
I find that writing about qualitative methods deepens and enhances my observational acuity. Qualitative
methods are not just for conducting research and evaluation. Observation and interviewing are life skills.
Qualitative methods offer windows through which to take in the dynamic unfolding of the world around us.
Nothing makes me more mindful and appreciative of the benefits and joys of observation than observing the
development of my granddaughter and her awakening to the world.
End of the Beginning
It is said among authors that books don’t get finished or completed. At some point, an author just has to stop
writing. That time has arrived.
I would add only that I suspect this fourth edition will be the last print copy of this book. Should I have the
good fortune to be around to write a fifth edition, given the trends in publishing, I would expect it to be
entirely digital. The first edition was written on a manual typewriter. This edition was written on the cloud.
Qualitative methods and reporting have been developing in new directions reflecting larger changes in society
and technology. Thus has it ever been. Thus will it be going forward. What a long, strange trip it’s been. But
the journey is not over. This book is a marker along the way. Those of you reading and using what is here will
be part of creating the future of qualitative methods. I’ll be watching what you do as I gather material to
document the next leg of the trip.
Cover Art Credit
The cover art, titled Fable II, is a wood sculpture by the artist Shaftaï (http://www.shaftai.com/).
Born and raised in the United States and having lived in France for 40 years, Shaftaï works essentially in
wood and metal. Rather abstract, his works bring to mind natural forms, dynamic movement, or unusual
constructions. Using direct-carving technique, his relationship to a sculpture evolves as the piece takes shape,
much like emergent qualitative fieldwork and analysis. He says,
The success of a sculpture can be judged by its capacity to surprise the artist during its creation and the spectator when he sees it. If the
spectator wonders what he’s looking at, while finding pleasure in sensual or aesthetic contemplation, his imagination sets the base for his
connection to the work, giving that relationship a chance to last. If the piece can be immediately “figured out” or reduced to some form of
“meaning” (a title, a reference to reality, a function), the mind will not stay focused on it for long. There being no clear answer to “What
is it?,” the sculpture says alive.
Shaftaï and I were Peace Corps volunteers together in Burkina Faso in the late 1960s.
—Michael Quinn Patton
21

May 15, 2014
Pine City, Minnesota
22

About the Author
Michael Quinn Patton is an independent consultant with more than 40 years’ experience conducting applied
research and program evaluations. He lives in Minnesota, where, according to the state’s poet laureate,
Garrison Keillor, “all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above
average.” It was this interesting lack of statistical variation in Minnesota that led him to qualitative inquiry
despite the strong quantitative orientation of his doctoral studies in sociology at the University of Wisconsin.
He was on the faculty of the University of Minnesota for 18 years, including 5 years as director of the
Minnesota Center for Social Research, where he was awarded the Morse-Amoco Award for innovative
teaching. Readers of this book will not be surprised to learn that he has also won the University of Minnesota
storytelling competition.
He has authored six other SAGE books: Utilization-Focused Evaluation, Creative Evaluation, Practical
Evaluation, How to Use Qualitative Methods for Evaluation, Essentials of Utilization-Focused Evaluation, and
Family Sexual Abuse: Frontline Research and Evaluation. He has edited or contributed articles to numerous
books and journals, including several volumes of New Directions in Program Evaluation, on subjects as diverse
as culture and evaluation, how and why language matters, HIV/AIDS research and evaluation systems,
extension methods, feminist evaluation, teaching using the case method, evaluating strategy, utilization of
evaluation, and valuing. He is the author of Developmental Evaluation: Applying Complexity Concepts to
Enhance Innovation and Use and coauthor of Getting to Maybe: How the World Is Changed, a book that applies
complexity science to social innovation. His creative nonfiction book, Grand Canyon Celebration: A Father–Son
Journey of Discovery, was a finalist for Minnesota Book of the Year.
He is a former president of the American Evaluation Association and recipient of both the Alva and
Gunnar Myrdal Award for Outstanding Contributions to Useful and Practical Evaluation and the Paul F.
Lazarsfeld Award for Lifelong Contributions to Evaluation Theory from the American Evaluation
Association. The Society for Applied Sociology presented him the Lester F. Ward Award for Outstanding
Contributions to Applied Sociology.
He is on the faculty of The Evaluators’ Institute and teaches workshops for the American Evaluation
Association’s professional development courses and Claremont University’s Summer Institute. He is a
founding trainer for the International Program for Development Evaluation Training, sponsored by The
23

World Bank and other international development agencies each summer in Ottawa, Ohio.
He has conducted applied research and evaluation on a broad range of issues, including antipoverty
initiatives, leadership development, education at all levels, human services, the environment, public health,
medical education, employment training, agricultural extension, arts, criminal justice, mental health,
transportation, diversity initiatives, international development, community development, systems change,
policy effectiveness, managing for results, performance indicators, and effective governance. He has worked
with organizations and programs at the international, national, state, provincial, and local levels and with
philanthropic, not-for-profit, private sector, international agency, and government programs. He has worked
with people from many different cultures and perspectives.
He has three children—a musician, an engineer, and a nonprofit organization development and evaluation
specialist—and one granddaughter. When not evaluating, he enjoys exploring the woods and rivers of
Minnesota with his partner, Jean—kayaking, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing—and occasionally hiking
in the Grand Canyon. He enjoys watching the seasons change from his office overlooking the Mississippi
River in Saint Paul and his home in the north woods of Minnesota.
Finally, a note on Halcolm, Patton’s philosophical creation, who gives you another perspective on his
approach as author and storyteller. Halcolm made his debut in the first edition of this book (1980) as a
qualitative inquiry muse and Sufi/Zen teaching master who offered stories that probed the deeper
philosophical underpinnings of how we come to know what we know—or think we know. Halcolm’s musings,
like his name (pronounced slowly), lead us to ponder “how come?” Halcolm was inspired by a combination of
the character Mulla Nasrudin from Sufi stories (Shah, 1972, 1973) and science fiction writer Robert
Heinlein’s (1973) immortal character Lazarus Long, the oldest living member of the human race, who travels
through time and space offering wisdom to mere mortals. Part muse and part alter ego, part literary character
and part scholarly inquirer, Halcolm’s occasional appearances in this research and evaluation text remind us to
ponder what we think is real, question what we think we know, and inquire into how come we think we know
it.
24

List of Exhibits
Exhibit
1.1
Open-Ended Interview Questions About Reading
Exhibit
1.2
The Contributions of Qualitative Inquiry: Seven Examples
Exhibit
1.3
Three Kinds of Qualitative Data
Exhibit
1.4
Mixed-Methods Example
Exhibit
1.5
Women’s Ways of Knowing: An Example of Qualitative Findings
Exhibit
1.6
Some Guiding Questions and Options for Making Methods Decisions
Exhibit
1.7
Observation Description Illustrated: A Discussion for Mothers of Two-Year-Olds
Exhibit
1.8
Cognitive Inquiry Styles: PowerPoint Versus Story
Exhibit
1.9
Qualitative Inquiry Pioneers
Exhibit
2.1
Twelve Core Strategies of Qualitative Inquiry
Exhibit
2.2
From Able-Bodied to Disabled
Exhibit
2.3
A Classic Mixed-Methods Inquiry Sequence
Exhibit
2.4
Contextual Sensitivity and Assessment
Exhibit
2.5
Reflexive Questions: Triangulated Inquiry
Exhibit
2.6
Twelve Core Strategies of Qualitative Inquiry: Interdependent and Interactive
Exhibit
2.7
Case Example Applying the 12 Strategic Themes of Qualitative Inquiry: Research Into the
Immortal Cells of Henrietta Lacks
Exhibit The Methods Paradigms Debate: Ten Contrasting Emphases
26

3.1
Exhibit
3.2
Plea for Help: Which Approach Is Right?
Exhibit
3.3
Alternative Qualitative Inquiry Frameworks: Core Questions and Disciplinary Roots
Exhibit
3.4
Criteria for Judging the Quality of an Autoethnography
Exhibit
3.5
Six Common Errors in Phenomenological Dissertations: What Would Husserl Prescribe?
Exhibit
3.6
Essential Elements and Stages of Heuristic Inquiry
Exhibit
3.7
Classic Social Construction Theorems
Exhibit
3.8
Constructionism Versus Constructivism
Exhibit
3.9
Ten Core Elements of the Social Construction Inquiry Framework
Exhibit
3.10
Semiotic Inquiry: Might This Be a Universal Sign of Danger?
Exhibit
3.11
Semiotic Inquiry Framework: Five Basic Assumptions
Exhibit
3.12
Principles for Hermeneutic Inquiry
Exhibit
3.13
Systems Map Example
Exhibit
3.14
Complexity Theory Concepts and Qualitative Inquiry Implications
Exhibit
3.15
Simple, Complicated, Complex
Exhibit
3.16
Relationship of Systems Theory to Complexity Theory
Exhibit
3.17
Utilization-Focused Evaluation: Pragmatism in Practice
Exhibit
3.18
Ten General Pragmatic Principles of Inquiry
Exhibit
3.19
Distinguishing and Understanding Alternative Inquiry Frameworks: Crosscutting Themes
27

Exhibit
4.1
Practical Qualitative Inquiry Principles to Get Actionable Answers
Exhibit
4.2
Examples of Qualitative Inquiry Into Quality in Different Settings
Exhibit
4.3
The Qualitative Outcomes Story of Li: Behind the Outcome Numbers of an Employment
Program
Exhibit
4.4
Premises and Implications of Qualitatively Evaluating Individualized Outcomes
Exhibit
4.5
Getting Serious About Unanticipated Consequences: Eyes-Wide-Open Qualitative Research
and Evaluation
Exhibit
4.6
Types of Evidence-Based Interventions
Exhibit
4.7
Principles-Focused Evaluation Research: Studying Principles for Working With Homeless
Youth
Exhibit
4.8
Process as Outcome
Exhibit
4.9
Evaluation Example Comparing Diverse Programs: Variations in Types of Teacher Centers
Exhibit
4.10
Matching Program Philosophy and Evaluation Approach: Marcy Open School Illustration
Exhibit
4.11
Reflective Practice Guide
Exhibit
4.12
Example of a “Most Significant Change” Story
Exhibit
4.13
Principles of Fully Participatory and Genuinely Collaborative Inquiry
Exhibit
4.14
Guidelines for Ethical Research in Australian Indigenous Studies
Exhibit
4.15
Ten Humanistic Principles Undergirding Qualitative Inquiry
Exhibit
4.16
Qualitative Inquiry Applications: Summary Checklist of Particularly Appropriate Uses of
Qualitative Methods
Exhibit
5.1
A Typology of Research Purposes
Exhibit
5.2
Family Research Example: Research Questions Matched to Research Category
Exhibit Asking Open-Ended Questions
28

5.3
Exhibit
5.4
Contrasting Designs: One-Point-in-Time Data Collection Versus Longitudinal Data Collection
Exhibit
5.5
Design Trade-Off Example: Depth Versus Breadth
Exhibit
5.6
Examples of Units of Analysis for Case Studies, Comparisons, and Response Analysis
Exhibit
5.7
Steps for Design Alignment
Exhibit
5.8
Purposeful Sampling Strategies
Exhibit
5.9
Outliers
Exhibit
5.10
Examples of Well-Known Continua That Illustrate the Basis for Continuum Sampling
Exhibit
5.11
Mixed-Methods Sampling Example
Exhibit
5.12
Utilization-Focused Sampling and Evaluation Example
Exhibit
5.13
Example of Nesting Sampling Strategies
Exhibit
5.14
Data Collection, Design, and Analysis Combinations: Pure and Mixed Design Strategies
Exhibit
5.15
Outline for a Qualitative Inquiry Design Proposal
Exhibit
6.1
Becoming a Skilled Observer
Exhibit
6.2
Ten Strengths of High-Quality Observations
Exhibit
6.3
Seven Ethical Issues in Qualitative Research on Internet Communities
Exhibit
6.4
Dimensions of Fieldwork: Variations and Options Along Continua
Exhibit
6.5
Examples of Sensitizing Concepts in Various Contexts
Exhibit
6.6
Integrating Description and Metaphor to Provide a Sense of Place: A Participant Observation
Example
29

Exhibit
6.7
Types of Documentation and Artifacts to Support Qualitative Inquiry: A Suggestive Inventory
Exhibit
6.8
Dimensions of Fieldwork
Exhibit
6.9
Nested, Layered, and Overlapping Mini Case Studies During Fieldwork
Exhibit
6.10
Observations From Field Notes: Poorly Done Compared With Well Done
Exhibit
6.11
Entry-to-the-Field Reflections From a Part-Time Observer
Exhibit
6.12
Overview of Stages of Fieldwork
Exhibit
6.13
Summary Guidelines for Fieldwork
Exhibit
7.1
Ten Diverse Purposes and Uses of Interviews in the Interview Society
Exhibit
7.2
Ten Interview Principles and Skills
Exhibit
7.3
Twelve Contrasting Interview Approaches Grounded in Different Qualitative Inquiry
Traditions and Frameworks
Exhibit
7.4
Variations in Interview Instrumentation
Exhibit
7.5
Evaluation Interview Guide for Participants in an Employment Training Program
Exhibit
7.6
Anticipating Analysis and Reporting to Organize, Sequence, and Format Interviews
Exhibit
7.7
A Matrix of Questions Options
Exhibit
7.8
Interview Training Demonstration: Closed Versus Open-Ended Questions
Exhibit
7.9
Interview Transcript With Commentary
Exhibit
7.10
Illustrative Dichotomous Versus Presupposition Questions
Exhibit
7.11
Summary of Question Formats to Facilitate Communicating Interviewer Neutrality
Exhibit Six Relationship-Focused, Interactive Interview Approaches
30

7.12
Exhibit
7.13
Summary of Pacing and Transition Formats
Exhibit
7.14
Twelve Varieties of Group Interviews
Exhibit
7.15
Ten Examples of Variations in Cross-Cultural Norms That Can Affect Interviewing and
Qualitative Fieldwork
Exhibit
7.16
Training Nonresearchers as Focus Group Interviewers: Women Leaving Prostitution
Exhibit
7.17
Special Interviewing Challenges for Particular Target Populations: Five Examples
Exhibit
7.18
Ethical Issues Checklist
Exhibit
7.19
Examples of Standardized Open-Ended Interviews
Exhibit
7.20
Interview Case Study Example
Exhibit
8.1
Twelve Tips for Ensuring a Strong Foundation for Qualitative Analysis
Exhibit
8.2
Connecting Design and Analysis: Purposeful Sampling and Purpose-Driven Analysis
Exhibit
8.3
Examples of Resources for Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software Decisions,
Training, and Technical Assistance
Exhibit
8.4
Options for Organizing and Reporting Qualitative Data
Exhibit
8.5
Case Study: Layers of Possible Analysis
Exhibit
8.6
The Process of Constructing Case Studies
Exhibit
8.7
Guidelines for Constructing Case Studies
Exhibit
8.8
Coming-of-Age Paradigms
Exhibit
8.9
Qualitative Analysis of Ancestry at the U.S. Census
Exhibit
8.10
Ten Types of Qualitative Analysis
31

Exhibit
8.11
First-Cut Coding Examples
Exhibit
8.12
An Empirical Typology of Teacher Roles in Dealing With High School Dropouts
Exhibit
8.13
Power Versus Interest Grid for Analyzing Diverse Stakeholders’ Engagement With a Program, a
Policy, or an Evaluation
Exhibit
8.14
Process–Impact Matrix
Exhibit
8.15
Conceptual Guide for Data Collection and Analysis: Utilization of Planning, Evaluation, and
Reporting
Exhibit
8.16
Substantive Significance Example: Minimally Disruptive Medicine
Exhibit
8.17
Findings Yielded by Various Theoretical Perspectives With Research and Evaluation Examples
Exhibit
8.18
Process Tracing for Causal Analysis
Exhibit
8.19
Twelve Approaches to Qualitative Causal Analysis
Exhibit
8.20
Photos Before and After to Illustrate Change
Exhibit
8.21
Immigration Roadmap Into the United States
Exhibit
8.22
Interpersonal Systems
Exhibit
8.23
Mountain of Accountability
Exhibit
8.24
Depicting Interconnected Factors
Exhibit
8.25
Depicting Organizational Tensions
Exhibit
8.26
Depicting Evaluation Tensions
Exhibit
8.27
Visualization of Qualitative Data and Findings: Strengths and Weaknesses
Exhibit
8.28
Mixed-Methods Challenges and Solutions
Exhibit Audience- and Utilization-Focused Reporting
32

8.29
Exhibit
8.30
Example of Reporting Feedback to Program Staff: Distinguishing Observations From Perceived
Impacts Based on Their Indigenous Framework for Working With Participants in the Leadership
Program
Exhibit
8.31
Principles-Focused Qualitative Evaluation Report Example
Exhibit
8.32
Checklist for Qualitative Data Analysis, Interpreting Findings, and Reporting Results
Exhibit
8.33
Mike’s Career Education Experience: An Illustrative Case Study
Exhibit
8.34
Excerpts From Codebook for Use by Multiple Coders of Interviews With Decision Makers and
Evaluators About Their Utilization of Evaluation Research
Exhibit
8.35
Excerpts From an Illustrative Interview Analysis: Reflections on Outcomes From Participants in
a Wilderness Education Program
Exhibit
9.1
Ten Systematic Analysis Strategies to Enhance Credibility and Utility
Exhibit
9.2
Ten Developments Enhancing Mixed-Methods Triangulation
Exhibit
9.3
Different Perspectives on Triangulation by Those Who Were Studied
Exhibit
9.4
Metaevaluation: Evaluating the Evaluation of the Paris Declaration on Development Aid
Exhibit
9.5
Dimensions of Rigorous Analysis and Critical Thinking
Exhibit
9.6
General Scientific Research Quality Criteria
Exhibit
9.7
Alternative Sets of Criteria for Judging the Quality and Credibility of Qualitative Inquiry
Exhibit
9.8
From Interview Transcript to Poem: An Artistic and Evocative Presentation
Exhibit
9.9
Alternative Quality Criteria Applied to Program Evaluation
Exhibit
9.10
The Multiple Dimensions of Program Evaluator Competence
Exhibit
9.11
The Credibility of the Inquirer: Issues and Solutions
Exhibit Confusion About What Constitutes a Lesson Learned
33

9.12
Exhibit
9.13
High-Quality Lessons Learned
Exhibit
9.14
Twelve Perspectives on and Approaches to Generalization of Qualitative Findings
Exhibit
9.15
Criteria for Judging Quality
Exhibit
9.16
A Documenter’s Perspective
34

PART 1
Framing Qualitative Inquiry
Theory Informs Practice, Practice Informs Theory
• Psychometricians try to measure it.
Experimentalists try to control it.
Interviewers ask questions about it.
Observers watch it.
Participant-observers do it.
Statisticians count it.
Evaluators value it.
Qualitative inquirers find meaning in it.
• When in doubt, observe and ask questions. When certain, observe at length and ask many more
questions.
• In a world where much is transient, inquiry endures.
• Gigo’s Law of Deduction: Garbage in, garbage out.Halcolm’s Law of Induction: No new experience,
no new insight.
• Qualitative inquiry cultivates the most useful of all human capacities:
The capacity to learn.
• Innovators are told, “Think outside the box.” Qualitative scholars tell their students, “Study the box.
Observe it. Inside. Outside. From inside to outside, and from outside to inside. Where is it? How did it
get there? What’s around it? Who says it’s a ‘box’? What do they mean? Why does it matter? Or does it?
What is not a ‘box’? Ask the box questions. Question others about the box. What’s the perspective from
inside? From outside? Study diagrams of the box. Find documents related to the box. What does thinking
have to do with the box anyway? Understand this box. Study another box. And another. Understand box.
Understand. Then, you can think inside and outside the box. Perhaps. For awhile. Until it changes. Until
you change. Until outside becomes inside—again. Then, start over. Study the box.”
35

There is no burden of proof. There is only the world to experience and understand. Shed the burden of
proof to lighten the load for the journey of experience.
—From Halcolm’s Laws of Inquiry
36

CHAPTER
1 The Nature, Niche, Value, and Fruit of
Qualitative Inquiry
Nyansapo, “wisdom knot,” Adinkra (West Africa) symbol of wisdom, ingenuity, intelligence, and patience.
This symbol conveys the idea that a wise person has the capacity to select the best means to achieve a goal.
Being wise means knowing how to apply broad knowledge, learning, and experience for practical purposes
(Willis, 1998).
Book Overview and Chapter Preview
Part 1 of this book—this journey deep into qualitative inquiry—provides an overview of qualitative
methodology in four chapters—on (1) the nature, niche, value, and fruit of qualitative inquiry; (2) strategic
themes in qualitative inquiry; (3) a variety of qualitative inquiry frameworks (paradigmatic, philosophical, and
theoretical orientations); and (4) practical and actionable qualitative applications. Part 2 covers qualitative
designs and data collection, with chapters on (5) design options, (6) fieldwork and observation, and (7) in-
depth interviewing. Part 3 completes the book with chapters on (8) qualitative analysis and (9) enhancing the
quality and credibility of qualitative studies.
In this first chapter, Module 1 presents examples of how qualitative inquiry contributes to our
understanding of the world. Module 2 examines what makes qualitative data qualitative. Module 3 provides
an overview of the issues involved in making methods decisions. Module 4 concludes the chapter with a
summary of the fruit of qualitative methods, that is, a look at what comes out of qualitative studies.
A thick tree grows from a tiny seed.
A tall building arises from a mound of earth.
A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step.
—Lao-tzu
Philosopher and poet of ancient China
QUALITATIVE WISDOM
A Portuguese professional from Barcelona was driving in a remote area of his country when he came
37

upon a sizable herd of sheep being driven along the country road by a shepherd. Seeing that he would be
delayed until the sheep could be turned off the road, he got out of the car and struck up a conversation
with the shepherd.
“How many sheep do you have?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” responded the young man. The professional was embarrassed for having exposed what he
assumed was the young shepherd’s lack of formal schooling, and therefore his inability to count such a
large number. But he was also puzzled.
“How do you keep track of the flock if you don’t know how many sheep there are? How would you know
if one was missing?”
The shepherd, in turn, seemed puzzled by the question. Then he explained, “I don’t need to count them.
I know each one, and I know the whole flock. I would know if the flock was not whole.”
38

MODULE
1 How Qualitative Inquiry Contributes to Our
Understanding of the World
This opening chapter will offer an overview of the nature, niche, value, and fruit of qualitative inquiry. In the
spirit of the Adinkra Nyansapo, symbol of wisdom, our journey together through various purposes for and
contributions of qualitative inquiry aims to enhance your capacity to select the best methods and design to
achieve a particular research or evaluation purpose. This chapter will offer a sampling of findings from
qualitative studies. In this regard, it will be like a wine tasting, meant to introduce possibilities and support
developing a more sophisticated palate, or like appetizers, as an opening to the fuller feast yet to come in later
chapters.
In this chapter, we are especially attentive to the fruit of qualitative inquiry. It is important to know what
qualitative data yield, what findings look like, and how they are produced, so that you will know what you are
seeking to find out and produce when you undertake your own qualitative inquiry. Let’s begin, then, with
seven ways in which qualitative inquiry contributes to our understanding of the world. The first contribution
is illuminating meaning.
Illuminating Meanings: From Birth to Death and In-Between
What makes us different from other animals is our capacity to assign meaning to things. The essence of being
human is integrating and making sense of experience (Loevinger, 1976). Language has developed, and
continues to develop, as a uniquely human way to express meaning (Halliday, 1978)—and to disguise
meaning. As Shakespeare observed in Measure for Measure, “It oft falls out, to have what we would have, we
speak not what we mean.”
Being a person is the activity of meaning-making.
—Robert Kegan (1982, p. 11)
Developmental psychologist
Harvard University
Qualitative research inquires into, documents, and interprets the meaning-making process. Let me illustrate
how this occurs and explain why it is so important—indeed, why it is the core of qualitative inquiry and
analysis. I’ll begin with a personal example. During the writing of this book, my first grandchild was born, and
this book is dedicated to her. The hospital records document her weight, height, health, and Apgar score—
activity (muscle tone), pulse, grimace (reflex response), appearance, and respiration. The mother’s condition,
39

length of labor, time of birth, and hospital stay are all documented. These are physiological and institutional
metrics. When aggregated across many babies and mothers, they provide trend data about the beginning of
life—birthing. But nowhere in the hospital records will you find anything about what the birth of Calla
Quinn means. Her name is recorded but not why it was chosen by her parents and what it means to them. Her
existence is documented but not what she means to our family, what decision-making process led up to her
birth, the experience and meaning of the pregnancy, the family experience of the birth process, and the
familial, social, cultural, political, and economic context that is essential to understanding what her birth
means to family and friends in this time and place. A qualitative case study of Calla’s birth would capture and
interpret the story and meaning of her entry into the world from the perspectives of those involved in and
touched by her coming into our lives. This might, or might not, include the fact that at the moment she was
born I was in the midst of conducting a webinar on qualitative evaluation and those participants from around
the world became part of the experience as I took a break to rush to the hospital and meet Calla for the first
time. Several participants subsequently sent me e-mails that Calla’s birth made the webinar more meaningful
for them. This example of the meaning of her birth as a potential qualitative case study was born during that
webinar.
I open with this personal story for another reason. Qualitative inquiry is personal. The researcher is the
instrument of inquiry. What brings you to an inquiry matters. Your background, experience, training, skills,
interpersonal competence, capacity for empathy, cross-cultural sensitivity, and how you, as a person, engage in
fieldwork and analysis—these things undergird the credibility of your finings. Reflection on how your data
collection and interpretation are affected by who you are, what’s going on in your life, what you care about,
how you view the world, and how you’ve chosen to study what interests you is a part of qualitative
methodology. The obligation and commitment to acknowledge and take into account the personal and
interpersonal nature of qualitative inquiry will be a recurring theme of this book. I’ve been at this for more
than 40 years. My granddaughter’s birth infused my writing with new energy and urgency as I imagined
addressing a new generation of qualitative researchers and evaluators.
So let us turn now to the other end of the human existential continuum. Systematically gathering data on
deaths began in the Black Plague, when, from 1347 to 1351, a third or more of all Europeans died. From that
time, England began tracking deaths, eventually developing the death certificate, which specifies cause of
death.
Of the roughly fifty million people who will die this year, approximately half will get a death certificate. That figure includes every fatality
in every developed nation on earth: man, woman, child, infant. The other half, death’s dark matter, expire in the world’s poorest places,
which lack the medical and bureaucratic infrastructures for end-of-life documentation. (Schulz, 2014, p. 32)
The death certificate has become a crucial source of epidemiological data documenting trends in causes of
death, which has influenced policymaking, research priorities, and allocation of public health resources.
Epidemiological studies go beyond death certificates to estimate deaths caused by poverty, low levels of
education, smoking, obesity, and inactivity—causes in the same range as deaths from heart attacks and cancer
(Galea, Tracy, Hoggatt, DiMaggio, & Karpati, 2011). But as with birth certificates, death certificates and
epidemiological studies do not capture what the death of someone means to those touched by that death.
40

Only an in-depth case study can even begin to do that. To understand how humans face death and make
sense of dying under the most extreme conditions, Viktor E. Frankl (2006), a neurologist, psychiatrist, and
Holocaust survivor, studied the search for meaning in World War II concentration and death camps. The
capacity to find meaning in suffering and death, he concluded, was the key to survival.
So aggregate statistics on mortality reveal causes of death but don’t tell us how people find meaning in
dying and how cultures make sense of death. That kind of inquiry is the focus of the anthropology of death, a
specialized area of cross-cultural and cross-institutional inquiry.
The anthropology of death takes as its task to understand the phrase: “All humans die,” yet in every culture, each dies in their own
way. . . .
Death is an intensely emotional and often taboo subject, so that studying death raises special dilemmas and emotional challenges for the
fieldworker. . . . [Anthropologist] Hortense Powdermaker, working in a matrilineal society in New Ireland, described her own extreme
distress when she began taking field notes at her first funeral. She imagined how intrusive such an ethnographic presence would be in her
own house of mourning. She, however, discovered to her great surprise that these non-literate people felt no such intrusions, but rather
that her writing added prestige to the ritual. They demanded her presence at every subsequent funeral, even long after she had
constructed a complete account of the funeral process.
Many ethnographers have discussed the emotional strain of participating closely in the grief of others. . . . Perhaps the most moving
account is by Rosaldo who connects how his overwhelming grief at the accidental death of his wife, (also an eminent anthropologist)
helped him understand more deeply [the] headhunter’s rage of the Ilongot in the Philippines. (Abramovitch, 2014, p. 1)
An exemplar of an in-depth qualitative inquiry into death is a study by Karen Martin (2007) of sudden
infant death syndrome (SIDS), the leading cause of death among apparently healthy infants between the ages
of one week and one year. Her case studies document the painful experience of bereaved parents, who
frequently blame themselves for their baby’s death. She looks at how parents grieve, the meanings and casual
explanations they attribute to a SIDS death, the effects of their grief on family relationships, and the strategies
they use to cope and carry on.
The anthropology of death includes how different cultures explain, talk about, and deal with death.
Americans appear to have particular difficulty dealing with death. Debate about the wisdom and costs of
extending life a few months with hugely expensive medical technology, surgery, and drugs has become not
only a difficult matter of medical ethics but also a volatile political issue (Brown, 2014). These are matters for
qualitative inquiry.
We construct and attach meaning to births. We try to make sense of death—and culture tells us how to do
so. Now let’s look at five diverse examples between birth and death of how qualitative inquiry contributes to
understanding human meaning making.
• Bodily meaning making: Qualitative inquirers have studied the meanings attached to male and female
bodies, disabled and injured bodies, bodies of different colors and sizes, how and why people adorn their
bodies (e.g., with jewelry, tattoos, piercings, intentional scars), and how and why they mutilate them
(e.g., by circumcision, female genital mutilation, cutting off limbs in war, scalping, cannibalism, and
sexual abuse).
41

Because our bodies serve as a site of meaning making within our culture, they also serve as a site of scholarly investigation. . . .
Wanda Pillow discovered the centrality of the body in her research . . . on pregnant teenagers and their experiences. . . . The body, the
changing body, the experience of the pregnant body, structural responses to girls’ changing bodies, and the perceptions of others toward
girls’ pregnant bodies became central to her research. In fact, without focusing on the body, it would not have been possible to understand
much of the experience of this population. Accordingly, Pillow modified her research to focus on the bodies and bodily experiences of the
girls she was studying. In other words, she developed a body-centered methodology. . . . A shift to the body allowed her to ask and answer
research questions that would otherwise be impossible to address. Likewise, she was able to access knowledge that would otherwise
remain invisible. (Hesse-Biber & Leavy, 2006a, pp. xx–xxi)
• Evaluative meaning making: Evaluation involves making judgments about what is meaningful. One
important form of evaluation is assessing students’ academic achievement. Magolda and King (2012)
interviewed nearly 2,000 college students to find out how they make learning meaningful. They found
that many students fail to achieve complex learning goals because they rely too heavily on others’
opinions about what to believe, who to be, and how to relate to others. In other words, peer pressure
trumps individual meaning making, especially early in the college experience. Over time, successful
students learn to decide for themselves what is meaningful, what Magolda and King call “self-
authorship.” They conclude that understanding and assessing students’ meaning making is essential for
interpreting students’ academic performance and other behaviors and should inform the design of new
programs and services.
• What objects mean: Humans attach meaning to things, what anthropologists call material culture. Art,
food, toys, jewelry, land, cars, perfume, clothes . . . anything can become meaningful to those people
within a setting who attach value to it. The dictum that “an Englishman’s home is his castle” attaches
special meaning, legal protections, and social status to one’s place of abode. National flags are symbols
full of meaning. Music has meaning. The Olympic medal presentations combining flags and music evoke
strong emotions. Qualitative inquiry includes studying the meaning making associated with things as
diverse as Smartphones, Facebook, and hair dye (Berger, 2014).
• Meaning in meaninglessness: Social groups are typically defined by their shared meaning making. In
an ironic twist, some groups find meaning around a commitment to meaninglessness. Nihilism is a
philosophical assertion that life has no meaning. Nihilists find common meaningfulness in asserting
meaninglessness. How and why this occurs, and its effects on those involved, is a matter well suited for
qualitative inquiry. Distinguished British philosopher and author Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) studied
and reflected on the political and moral attraction of a philosophy of meaninglessness in England during
the 1920s and 1930s. He interpreted it as essentially a means of liberation from conservative morality and
politics, resisting being told what to believe by the powerful (religious, corporate, and government
leaders). Adherents of a philosophy of meaninglessness justified their political and erotic revolt by
denying that the world had any meaning at all (Huxley, 1937).
• Qualitative interpretation as meaning making: Qualitative inquiries study how people and groups
construct meaning. In so doing, qualitative methodology devotes considerable attention to how
qualitative analysts determine what is meaningful. Qualitative analysis involves interpreting interviews,
42

observations, and documents—the data of qualitative inquiry—to find substantively meaningful patterns
and themes. Doing so is an act of interpretation. Distinguished qualitative methodologist Robert Stake
(2010) explains what this means:
Interpretation is an act of composition. The interpreter takes descriptions and makes them more complex, drawing upon a few conceptual
relationships. He or she might take the term work and give it muscle, durability, remuneration, and self-respect. These can be some of the
larger meanings of work. He or she might take an episode observed at the workplace and give it personality, history, tension, and
implication. The best interpretations will be logical extensions of the simple description but also will include contemplative, speculative,
even aesthetic extension. The reader would be deceived if allowed to think that these interpretations had been agreed upon, certified in
some way. They are contributions of the researcher, written so as to make it clear they are personal interpretations. All people make
interpretations. All research requires interpretations. Qualitative research relies heavily on interpretive perceptions throughout the
planning, data gathering, analysis, and write-up of the study. (p. 55)
The first contribution of qualitative inquiry, then, is illuminating meanings and how humans engage in
meaning making—in essence, making sense of the world. Science fiction author Piers Anthony could have
been talking about the challenge of qualitative inquiry when he observed, “All things make sense; you just
have to fathom how they make sense.”
Studying How Things Work
Michael Scriven is a founder of the transdisciplinary profession of evaluation. Research can involve studying
how anything works. Program evaluation involves studying how a program works and what results it gets to
render a judgment about its effectiveness. Scriven (1998) tells about being invited to evaluate a computer-
based approach used by the counseling center at the University of California at Irvine. He accepted, and then
things got interesting:
I ran three of my graduate students through the program, and its disastrous failings emerged readily. From the administrator’s desk,
dazzled by the computers, these failings—of content as well as of the machinery—were invisible. In any case, they refused payment in
order to not have my critical report in their files. I said I would be happy not to charge them and instead use it as the theme for my next
published article. So they called and said they had appointed a negotiator. I called the negotiator and asked if he was empowered to
negotiate to the full amount of the contract and he said, “Absolutely.” So I said fine, that I would not charge them since they did not
think it worth paying for, but I would use the example in every future speech that I made on a related topic. (p. 13)
In that story are two examples of how things work. First is a glimpse into how the counseling center’s
program worked—or rather didn’t work. The second story is how negotiating settlement of the evaluation
contract worked.
Students of anatomy examine how the body works. Social scientists study how human groups and
institutions work. The contribution of qualitative research and evaluation to understanding how things work is
highlighted by the opposite phenomenon expressed in the title of Nigerian Chinua Achebe’s (1994) classic
story of the clash between Western and traditional African values during and after the colonial era: Things Fall
Apart.
43

SOURCE: From Scriven, M. (1991). Evaluation thesaurus (4th ed., p. 1). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Used by permission of cartoonist Chris
Lysy.
Robert Stake, quoted earlier about the centrality of interpretation in making sense of the world, subtitled
his book on qualitative research Studying How Things Work. Here’s what Stake (2010) says it means:
Understanding the social and professional worlds around us comes from paying attention to what people are doing and what they are
saying. Some of what they do and say is unproductive and silly, but we need to know that, too. A lot of what people do is motivated by
their love for their families and a desire to help people, and we need to know that, too. We won’t just ask them. We will look closely to
see how their productivity and love are manifested. I put “Studying How Things Work” in the title . . . to help you improve your ability
to examine how things are working. Most of the things I have in mind are small things—small but not simple, such as classrooms and
offices and committees. But also gerundial things, nursing and mainstreaming and fund-raising, in particular situations. And some special
things, such as ordering chairs for a classroom, and “labor and delivery,” and personal privacy. (p. 2)
The possibilities for studying how things work is vast. How does culture work? How do families work?
Small groups? Universities? Movements? Systems? What is meant by qualitatively studying how things work
is getting inside the phenomenon of interest to get detailed, descriptive data and perceptions about the
variations in what goes on and the implications of those variations for the people and processes involved. A
major way to do that is to capture people’s stories about how things work.
Capturing Stories to Understand People’s Perspectives and
Experiences
The universe is made of stories, not atoms.
—Muriel Rukeyser (1913–1980)
American poet and political activist
Stories make us human.
—Jonathan Gottschall (2012)
The Storytelling Animal
44

If you want to know how much children can read, give them a reading test. If you want to know what reading
means to them, you have to talk with them, listen to them, and hear their stories about the stories they love.
Exhibit 1.1 gives examples of the kinds of questions you might ask.
These are qualitative inquiry questions aimed at getting an in-depth, individualized, and contextually
sensitive understanding of reading for each child interviewed. Of course, the actual questions asked would
have to be adapted to the child’s age and language skills, the school and family situation, and the purpose of
the inquiry. But regardless of the precise wording and sequence of the questions, the purpose is to hear
children talk about reading in their own words; find out about their reading behaviors, attitudes, and
experiences; and get them to tell stories that illuminate what reading means to them. You might talk to groups
of kids about reading as a basis for developing more in-depth, personalized questions for individual interviews.
While doing fieldwork (actually visiting schools and classrooms), you would observe children reading and the
interactions between teachers and children around reading. You would also observe what books and reading
materials are there in a classroom and how they are arranged, handled, and used. In a comprehensive inquiry,
you would also interview teachers and parents to get their perspective on the meaning and practice of reading,
both for children and for themselves, as models their children are likely to emulate.
In analyzing your classroom observations and interviews with children, parents, and teachers, you would
provide illustrative case examples of variations in reading practices and what it means to those interviewed.
You would report and explain any patterns or themes that emerged in the responses to your interview
questions. For example, eight-year-old boys I interviewed told me that good readers are bad at sports. They
believed that a little reading was okay, but if you read too much, it interferes with your muscles getting
stronger. They were careful to read just enough to do okay in school but not so much as to hurt their
aspirations to become good athletes. Teachers had heard this, they told me, but didn’t take it seriously. The
boys I talked with took it very seriously. The eight-year-old girls thought the boys were just dumb and had
silly and stupid ideas.
EXHIBIT 1.1 Open-Ended Interview Questions About Reading
If you want to know how much children can read, give them a reading test. If you want to know what reading
means to them, you have to talk with them. Here are examples of open-ended interview questions about reading:
Tell me about something you’re reading now.
What do you like to read in school? How does reading relate to other subjects in school? What do you
read on your own, outside school? When do you read?
What do you like about reading? What don’t you like?
Tell me about reading in your family. What do people in your family say about reading? What do your
friends say about it?
45

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Title: The Life and Experiences of an Ex-Convict in Port Macquarie
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE AND
EXPERIENCES OF AN EX-CONVICT IN PORT MACQUARIE ***

THE
LIFE ...
AND
... EXPERIENCES
OF
AN EX-CONVICT
IN
PORT MACQUARIE
NEW SOUTH WALES:
R. Davidson, Printer, Port Macquarie.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION iii
CHAPTER I. Farewell To My Native Land. 1
CHAPTER II. Arrival at Sydney. 5
CHAPTER III. "Fresh Fields and Pastures New." 6
CHAPTER IV. To Port Macquarie. 8
CHAPTER V. The Iron Gang. 11
CHAPTER VI. Assigned to Lake Innes. 22
CHAPTER VII. The Blind Mob. 33
CHAPTER VIII. The Road Parties. 35
CHAPTER IX. "Specials" and Others. 49
CHAPTER X. Some Notable Constables. 55
CHAPTER XI. At Rollands Plains. 65
CHAPTER XII. The Female Convicts. 68
CHAPTER XIII. Some Practical Jokes. 72
CHAPTER XIV. The Aborigines. 75

CHAPTER XV. A Free Man. 79
CHAPTER XVI. The Yacht "Wanderer." 84
CHAPTER XVII. Escape of Prisoners. 89
CHAPTER XVIII. A Last Word. 91

INTRODUCTION.
Port Macquarie, as is generally known, was one of the first
Settlements made in New South Wales. It is intended herein to give
a full and authentic synopsis of the Life of the Oldest Living Ex-
Convict on the Hastings River, near Port Macquarie, extending from
the thirties onwards. The information comes purely from memory,
hence exact dates on which certain events occurred cannot be
given; nevertheless the greatest care has been taken to give dates
as near as possible.
The Life of an Ex-Convict.

CHAPTER I.
Farewell To My Native Land.
"The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill
together; our virtues would be proud if our faults whipped
them not, and our crimes would despair if they were not
cherished by our virtues."
—Shakespeare.
I was born at Shoreditch, near London, on the 28th of May, 1819,
and was nearing the age of sixteen when one day I was accused of
committing a paltry theft. Of this I was innocent, and naturally
denied it, but the constable who accosted me insisted, no matter
what I said, that I had to go with him. My feelings were anything but
high-flown as I passed along the street with him—what boy's
feelings would be?—on the other hand they were down almost
below zero. It was no use; I soon realised my position, it was this:—
If I am found guilty of this offence—and I have little hope of proving
my innocence—Heaven only knows where I may find myself. My trial
came on before a Bench of Magistrates in Worship Street, London,
on July the 3rd, 1834, and I was committed to take my trial. When a
man had the bad luck to get committed, he was sent to Clerkenwell,
or to the Old Bailey, and if he listened to the conversations of his
associates at either of these places, during intervals that he might be
remanded, it was quite possible that a previously innocent man
would be converted into an adept at picking pockets and house-
screwing. I was a new-chum in places of this kind, and also at such
pursuits. New-chums generally fell into, and were made the subject
of, numbers of practical jokes, too, at the hands of these fellows,
and I was saved none the less in this respect. "Go upstairs and get
the bellows," one of them said to me: and when I got to the top of
the stairs, some others sent me to the far end of the ward for it. On

arrival there, another crowd met me with knotted handkerchiefs, and
'pasted' me all the way back. "Pricking a crow's nest," was another
of their games. This consisted in making a round ring on the wall
with a piece of charcoal, and placing a black dot in the centre of it.
One was then blindfolded, and his object was to place his finger on
this black dot; but instead of doing this, another fellow stood with
open mouth to receive the finger, and he didn't forget to bite it
either. If anyone took money into this place they might as well say
'au revoir' to it, for they were not asleep. After a few days of this life
my trial came on—I was sentenced to Australia for 7 years' penal
servitude. Then I was sent to Newgate, and when the door opened
there, I was met by a large number of "Jack Shepherds," all in irons,
and the place was as dismal-looking as the grave. First I entered the
receiving-room, and remained there a day; afterwards I was put in
with a fine assemblage of characters, and one might as well begin to
count the stars in the Heavens as attempt to define who was the
worst individual there. Night came on and I began to look around for
a bed; this I found consisted of a rug and a mat, of which I availed
myself. If a man was sentenced to seven years he was only kept
there for a few days, and was then taken in irons, by means of a
van, to the "hulk" at Portsmouth. This was the fate I shared. On
arrival there I was stripped of my clothes, and after the barber came
round and cut my hair so close that it was only with difficulty I could
catch hold of it, I was washed from two tubs of water which stood
close by. Then I was dressed in a pair of knee breeches, stockings,
shirt, and a pair of shoes so large that I could have almost crossed
the Atlantic in them, and a hat capable of weathering the greatest
hurricane that ever blew. Whilst on board the hulk an old Jew paid
several visits, for the purpose of buying up all the ordinary clothes of
the men, and no matter how new a suit might be, it was either a
matter of take half-a-crown for it or throw it away. Fortunately, my
best clothes were left behind, and I lost nothing by this.
I remained on the hulk from Friday till Monday morning, and was
then transferred to what was known as the Bay Ship—the
"Hoogly"—by means of a cutter. There were 260 prisoners on board

this ship altogether. Before leaving the hulk, the irons worn in
Australia were attached to the legs, but these were removed on
getting to sea. Men, however, were branded all over—shirt, trousers,
and everything else. The "Hoogly" left Portsmouth harbour on the
28th July, 1834, and was 120 days coming to Australia, and the
passage on the whole was not unfavorable. Four men, however,
were flogged during the passage for misconduct. One of those on
board was transported for stealing articles from a Roman Catholic
Chapel, and he had by some means managed to get a quantity of
tobacco into his possession. One night whilst he was asleep some of
the others conspired to get this tobacco, and they put his big toe
into the bunghole of a cask. He used to sleep on the tobacco, and as
soon as he sat up to release his toe the tobacco was passed away
through the crowd, and that was the last he saw of it.

CHAPTER II.
Arrival at Sydney.
"Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows."
—Shakespeare.
Notwithstanding the fact that the Settlement at Sydney was now
nearly 50 years old, my impression on arriving there in the summer
of 1834 was anything but a bright one, and by no means came up to
my faintest expectations. It was a scattered-looking place—a house
here and a terrace there, but miserable enough to my mind. After
we had been in Sydney harbour a few days, a number of officials
came aboard the ship, and, as if 'to the manner born,' took a list of
the marks on the men, who were stripped to the waist. One of them,
in particular, had some writing on his arm, and he was told that if it
was not quickly removed, he would get 50 lashes for it when he
reached shore, so he took the advice. We remained aboard ship till
three days later, we were marched ashore in line, four deep, a little
after daylight, and taken to Hyde Park Barracks. Here we got a
beautiful breakfast, "hominy," in little tubs. At 2 o'clock the same day
we were called out to witness a punishment. There were no "25's"
there; all "50's" and "75's"—goodness knows what the offenders had
been doing. After this, it was possible for any one of us to be called
out and sent to a master. If a man had a seven years' sentence, he
had to serve four years with a master before he got a "ticket-of-
leave;" but if he happened to prove himself a success at any
particular vocation, he would never get his "ticket," as the master for
whom he was working would arrange with one of the other servants
to quarrel with the handy man, and he would be sent to the lock-up
to be flogged, and get an addition to his sentence. If a man was
sentenced to 14 years, he had to serve 6 years with a master before
he got a "ticket." All the master had to give a servant in the year

was 2 suits of clothes, 2 pairs of boots and a hat, also his food. The
latter was supposed to be either 3½ lbs. of maizemeal and 7 lbs. of
flour, or 9 lbs. of beef for the week.

CHAPTER III.
"Fresh Fields and Pastures New."
"There's a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will."
—Shakespeare.
My first assignment was to Mr. Sam Terry, on his station at Mount
Pleasant. Here I had little or nothing to do, and this man was a good
master—he would never have his men flogged. But I had the
misfortune to be stricken with the sandy blight at this place, and I
was sent to the Windsor Hospital, where I remained for 10 months.
From here I was sent to Windsor Gaol, but instead of a bed, I had to
lie on a flag-stone, which was not conducive to building up my
health. From Windsor I was transferred to Parramatta, and
eventually to the Barracks again. Shortly after this, I was sent on to
that beautiful vessel known as the "Phœnix" hulk—prison ship. This
was the first occasion on which I had the extreme pleasure of
meeting Dr. ——, the man who conspired with two others to rob a
house, and when they were in the act of doing so, he assailed them
with a gun, fired and wounded one of them as he came out of the
window, and secured his freedom for catching thieves. This was a
very cunning trick, as he arranged the plot himself, and he
afterwards became prominent. I saw him shortly after this took
place, when he was assuming all sorts of things, and I said "Hulloa!
how are you getting on?" He looked at me, and said, "Why, I never
saw you before, sir." "That'll do," I said, "you forget that I saw you
on the "Phœnix" hulk, and don't try to put on side before me." He
said no more.

CHAPTER IV.
To Port Macquarie.
"O suffering, sad humanity!
O ye afflicted ones,
Steeped to the lips in misery."
—Longfellow.
It was not long before my health had sufficiently repaired to allow of
my being sent to Port Macquarie, and as this journey had to be
accomplished by water, the steamer "Little Billy," (William the
Fourth) came into requisition. I left Sydney in this vessel on Monday,
and she reached her destination on the following Sunday, after we
had been on deck the whole time tossing about. There were a good
number of us on board, and sometimes we got tea, and more often
we didn't. We were inspected on arrival, and afterwards landed at
the barracks, which stood on the water's edge against the river. The
first incident that came under my notice on arrival was a lean,
hungry-looking fellow named "Nipper," going along with his head
down, apparently in a tit, until he reached and hit up against a wall,
then he fell on his back like a cockroach—he was bloated out nearly
as large as a cask with "hominy." Then I saw another man named
"Larry" coming along; he was positively mad, for he used to go
along singing out "Larry! Larry!! Larry!!!" This man was reputed to
have knocked his wife's brains out with a saucepan. Still another I
saw, who was called "Captain." He had been a pirate, and used to
walk about the roofs of houses with a piece of stick, using it as a
telescope, and giving orders. I heard him sing out "Chuck us up that
Jew —— to deal with," and I don't know whom he meant, but it was
quite enough for me, so I left. Night came on, and one of the men—
Jack Sleet—had a few shillings in his pocket. Some of the others

heard the money jingle, and needless to say he was watched to bed,
the money being placed very safely underneath him. Everything was
quiet towards the middle of the night, when suddenly we were all
awakened by hearing a man sing out, "Oh! h——, Oh! h——,
somebody's cut me." It transpired that someone, in cutting the
money from under him, had forced the knife rather too much, and it
had entered his flesh, but the money was gone all the same, and
every one appeared to be asleep.
When all the men retired to barracks at night, it was so crowded
that where to lie down became a puzzle, and it was dirty besides.
Men still kept on coming from Sydney, which made matters ten times
worse. One day while in these quarters, I was sent down to one of
the wharves to help unload a boat laden with produce. I worked
very hard all day, and it was late in the evening before I returned to
the barracks. On arrival I asked the master's permission to bake
myself a "johnny cake" for supper. In due course I had the cake
mixed, and placed it on the fire to cook in an old frying-pan that was
more "hol(e)y than righteous." Seated beside the fire watching my
cake, I felt a nasty hit with a stick from behind, and as there was no
other weapon handy with which to return the compliment, I grasped
the frying-pan by the handle, and, turning round, brought it down
full force on to my assailant's head. Needless to say, his head was
harder than the bottom of the pan, and the next thing I remember
was seeing him wriggling about with the hot pan on his neck, and
exclaiming, "Oh! my G—, this pan is burning me!" Then a by-stander
came up with a bucket of water and poured it on him, and
afterwards the pan was removed. I turned to him, and said; "The
next time I am at the fire perhaps you'll leave me alone." But my
feet hardly had time to touch the ground before I was landed in the
lock-up, and the next day I was brought before the court and
sentenced to 36 lashes, and it would have been "100" only that the
overseer spoke up for me, and said that I was quite justified in my
action. But even "36" was a fine cure for the "prickly heat." I got full
of this and ran away to the Green Hills—15 miles distant—with a
mate. When we got there, it seemed that we were to get no peace,

for the aborigines came around us with their "yabber," and it was
but a short time before they were off to the police and informed
them of our whereabouts. Two days later we were caught, and I got
"50" more to "clench the bargain."

CHAPTER V.
The Iron Gang.
"To what base uses we may return."
—Shakespeare.
Doctors, in the practice of their profession, not infrequently inform
their patients that there is an insufficiency of iron in their blood, but
no such assertion was ever known to be made to a man who at any
time occupied a position in the Port Macquarie Iron Gang, for if there
was no iron in their blood there should have been, if the "barking of
shins" went for anything. I was sent into this gang, and amongst the
men in it were a number termed "specials." These "specials" were
sent out principally for forgery or swindling, and many of them were
so flash that they used to look down upon the other class of men,
and try to play a game of "bluff." I was boiling my billy of tea one
evening, when one of them came up and threatened to do all sorts
of things to me if I did not remove my billy and allow him the fire.
"What do you want?" I asked. "I want the fire," he replied. "Well," I
said, "you can have it when I am finished." He took no notice of me,
but persisted in removing my billy and placing his own on the fire. At
last I quietly lifted his off, threw it into the swamp, and gave him a
good thrashing. I was then removed, and got a little peace.
Perhaps for a fortnight now I went to work with the hand-cart,
bringing firewood for the Government officers, and finally joined the
iron gang again. Shortly after I re-joined this gang a man named
Arger, who had been captain in a regiment, was attacked by a fierce
looking fellow named Lorrens, who went up, and, drawing a knife,
stabbed Arger both sides of the neck and in the ribs, then told him
to "draw his sword and defend himself." This man had not the
slightest provocation to commit such a murderous act, as the poor

fellow never did him the least injury, and he was sent to Norfolk
Island for life.
Another man in the gang named Handersen, a carpenter, went up to
a Frenchman named Antonio, and knocked him down with a
hammer; then, turning round, he said: "I killed that b——, and I
hope his soul has gone wandering." These acts were done principally
for tobacco, or for half-a-loaf of bread, (even in those days "half-a-
loaf" was considered to be better than "no bread") and the object
was generally to get some of the flash "specials" a holiday to Sydney
in charge of a man, and this was called "jeeing" them.
When a man received six or 12 months in irons, he had to sleep on
the floor with one blanket, and a sleeper for a pillow; and if he got
ever so wet before going to bed in rainy weather, he had to put on
the same wet clothes next morning.
There was another cowardly thing done in the iron gang. A poor
fellow named Freeham was met by a member of the stone-breaking
party, who raised a hammer and struck him in the jaw, breaking it.
This wretch got 12 months added to his former sentence, but was
afterwards sent to Sydney on a charge of murder on his own word,
for killing a man at Ballengarra, situated some miles up the river; but
as there was no evidence except his own, he was sent back to Port
Macquarie for 12 months—though he said that he would rather be
hanged than serve another 12 months in such a place of slavery and
trials; for out of about 50 or 60 men, 14 or 15 of them would be
brought before the court every week and punished, and they were
all poor, harmless men. The charge against them was usually neglect
or disobedience. Fancy poor wretches, with chains hanging about
them being charged with neglect of work, or even disobedience.
Walking about in chains was hard enough work without carrying
hand-carts full of earth, and who could bring themselves to obey
flash "specials?"
One poor wretch got a month in the cells on bread and water for
having a piece of writing paper in his pocket, and another
unfortunate fellow was sentenced to "100 lashes" for having a letter

in his pocket which he was endeavouring to send to a friend. Still
these officials went to Church, offered up prayer (?) and aped
religion.
Tom —— was sentenced to two months on bread and water for
running away; but although Tom bolted he only went a little way and
brought himself to an anchor on a farm, which he never left. He
used to go into a hollow tree in the day time, and, opossum-like,
come out at night and eat the corn. Half-an-acre of this grain
disappeared in a fortnight, and then he gave himself up, as there
was no more corn to eat. This man had great storage capacity, as
one Sunday morning I saw him eat eight men's allowance for a
ration of corn bread whilst going a distance of about 200 yards. He
was transported for taking a man-o'-war boat, in company with five
others, and was a 7-year man. But he was a fearful glutton, for his
allowance of food was no more satisfaction to him than a straw is to
a bottle. I remember one day, returning from work, he saw a woman
lying drunk on the road, and he picked her up, lifted her on to his
shoulder, and ran away into the bush with her. The Police Magistrate
who was in the vicinity, noticing what was taking place, sang out,
"Put that woman down!" "If I do," said Tom, "the d—— police will
have her" and he took no further notice, but continued on his
journey, and there was not a sign of him till the next day. Then he
was arrested and locked up by the police, and received 14 days on
bread and water for his trouble. When he came out he bore a half-
starved appearance—the bread and water did not suit him.
About the year 1839 the gang had completed the first road, and the
lame, the blind, and those with wooden legs were furnished with a
clean bed in honor of the occasion. These cripples were employed
principally in taking goods to the settlers without payment, and the
poor wretches often went short when their journey's end was
reached. When not employed, they used to lounge about on the hills
overlooking the sea sunning themselves, and it was not infrequent
that they had quarrels amongst themselves. Just picture to yourself
a man with wooden legs offering to "fight any b—— man on timber"
as they used to put it. When these wooden-legged men had a

quarrel in a boat they sat on the seats, with a man propped against
the back of each, and in this fashion they would fight away in great
style. I saw two of them on one occasion fight till they could not see
each other. There were also one-armed men amongst them; these
were employed in breaking stone, and they had a Jew for a boss,
who was also a wooden-legged man. One day he went to sleep in
the sun on one of the hills above the harbour, and another Jew
named Lewis collected a quantity of old maize stalks and other fuel,
and set fire to his wooden legs whilst he was asleep. They were not
burning long, however, before he awoke and found one to be shorter
than the other; and it was a sight for sore eyes to see him walking
down to the Old Broken Barracks, singing out to everyone that he
met—"That Jew-looking b—— down there has burnt my legs nearly
off."
Just after this a poor fellow died in the barracks. A coffin was made
for him, and his remains were being carried away for interment by
four of his fellow-prisoners. After they had proceeded some little
distance, two of them had a quarrel, when they threw the coffin
down, and it burst, and out rolled the corpse on to the ground. They
fought their quarrel out, and after receiving satisfaction at each
other's hands, they picked the body and coffin up and carried it back
to the barracks, where it was tacked together again, and four other
men were sent to bury it.
The making of roads in the streets of the Settlement was now being
actively proceeded with, and in some instances the hills which had to
be cut through were so steep that a man could not comfortably
ascend one of them without irons on his legs, let alone with them—
but the hills had to be broken down by men with sore backs, and if
one man happened to collide with another who had been recently
flogged, it would be—"Oh, G——! mind my sore back." These were
hard times; hard worked and half starved.
Six men once got "50" for refusing their allowance of beef—it being
of inferior quality; but good meat was brought to court when they
were being tried, not the kind that was refused. They were

questioned, "What have you to say?" but were only allowed to get
one word out when the order would be "50." And so it appeared to
be "no use going to law with the Devil when the court was held in H
——." Some men seemed to have a harder skin than others; a few
would stand "50" like a piece of wood; they would sooner die than
allow anyone to hear a groan. There was one poor little fellow
named Mick whom the wretched overseer used to take a delight in
bringing before the court; he would never pick out a flash-looking
rascal, but only poor men who could just crawl about.
I remember one terrible schemer who came into the gang. He met
Mr. —— one morning, and said, "If you do not give me five 'bob' I'll
lay a charge against you for buying rations off the Government
men." He was thereupon caught by the collar and taken off to the
watchhouse, and was sentenced to two months in the iron gang. It
was about 11 o'clock in the day when he came into the gang, and
that evening he got "50" for doing something. The next day he tried
the same dodge, but was walked off again and got another "50."
The third day he went up to the overseer and said: "Do you expect
me to work after the flogging I got yesterday?" The answer was a
smack with a big stick. He was compelled to go to work with the
other men, dragging hand-carts full of earth. There were three men
to each cart, and a soldier always accompanied the men to keep
them from running away or receiving tobacco, as if any of the weed
were found on a man he would get "50." No spoons, knives, or forks
were allowed men in the iron gang, for if they had them they would
stab each other. Some used to eat their "hominy" with a piece of
iron hoop, which they used as a spade-scraper. Others used a piece
of bone. One fellow had a hat with a double-crown, and he used to
secrete tobacco and other things in it. The overseer once picked this
hat up and said to him: "You have a hat with two crowns." "Yes," he
replied, "It's a good job you have nothing in it to-day," added the
overseer. And so it was, for if there had been it would have meant
trouble. Some of the men used to watch the boss, and scheme when
his back was turned; but if he caught any of them they were sure of

"50," for he never said a word—only just held up a stick and a
policeman would come to the rescue.
Every Sunday the men got a small piece of soap with which to wash
their clothes, and if rain happened to come on whilst they were
doing it, orders were given to just gather up the clothes, and, wet or
dry, they were brought into the room. These clothes then had to be
worn to church by the men, who were safeguarded by a tyrannous
overseer and a soldier: and there they sat listening to a minister
preach, and looking at the hard-hearted wretches who were ruling
them. If the men had got something to eat, it would have done
them more good than hearing about the next world, for they
thought very little about religion in their sad state.
Poor —— was sentenced to 12 months in the chain gang for running
away, and he was only in the gang two days when the overseer
brought him to court and got him "50." He then took the sulks, and
would neither work nor eat. Then he was handcuffed and dragged
up and down the street till some of the more tender-hearted officials
could stand it no longer; and he was eventually chained to a bed-
post, where he lay down, like an over-worked ox, and died. It was
the custom to chain men to their bed when they became sick and
were sent to the hospital, for fear that they would run away in the
night. One man did bolt at night, and was not heard of again, the
supposition being that he perished in the bush. This was a fine man,
too, and once belonged to the Life Guards in London.
I was amongst a batch of men who were once marched down from
the barracks to assist in unloading a little vessel—the "Waterwitch"—
laden with corn, which had become wrecked whilst crossing the bar.
We worked all day and were brought back at night, receiving
cornmeal and water for our supper. All our clothes were wet, and we
had either to sleep in them or else lie on the floor with nothing. Such
was life in the iron gang.

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