The Art and Science of Portraiture

Illuminates the origins, purposes, and features of portraiture, a method of inquiry that shares some of the features of other qualitative research methods such as ethnography, case study, and narrative placing it within the larger discourse on social science inquiry and mapping it onto the broader terrain of qualitative research. Portraiture is a method of inquiry that shares some of the features of other qualitative research methods—such as ethnography, case study, and narrative—but it is distinctive in its blending of aesthetics and empiricism in an effort to capture the complexity, dynamics, and subtlety of human experience and organizational life. Portraiture first came to prominence in the works of Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, who used it to document the culture of schools, the life stories of individuals, and the relationships among families, communities, and schools. The Art and Science of Portraiture illuminates the origins, purposes, and features of portraiture—placing it within the larger discourse on social science inquiry and mapping it onto the broader terrain of qualitative research. It delineates the processes, methods, and strategies of research design, data collection, and analysis—underscoring the structure and improvisation, the order and the creativity. It also charts the development of the portrait and the shaping of the narrative, blending literary principles, artistic resonance, and scientific rigor. A landmark contribution to the field of research methodology and an indispensable resource for the social scientist, this lyric book will also provide general readers with a new and illuminating way of viewing the world. "The writing is beautiful, the ideas persuasive, and the picture it paints of the process of careful observation is one that every writer should read. . . . A rich and wonderful book." — American Journal of Education A landmark contribution to the field of research methodology, this remarkable book illuminates the origins, purposes, and features of portraiture—placing it within the larger discourse on social science inquiry and mapping it onto the broader terrain of qualitative research.