Volume 5, No. 1, Art. 22 – January 2004
Editorial "Special Issue: FQS Reviews III"
Katja Mruck
Dear Readers,
When we started thinking about launching a multidisciplinary online journal for qualitative research in 1999, we were cautiously optimistic: "It would be really great," said one of the editors during a meeting, "if we can get just three FQS issues out." [1]
In January 2000, the first issue—Qualitative Research: National, Disciplinary, Methodical and Empirical Examples—was published. Keeping the demand for interdisciplinary research under consideration, issues providing insights into various disciplines and their perspectives followed. The intent was to inform researchers about unknown disciplines, which would then enable them to carry out interdisciplinary endeavors. These issues include: German language Psychology, Cultural Sciences, Criminology, and Sport Sciences. However, issues dealing with topics important for qualitative researchers regardless of their disciplinary backgrounds were also part of the FQS spectrum. These issues include: Text . Archive . Re-Analysis, Qualitative and Quantitative Research: Conjunctions and Divergences, Using Technology in the Qualitative Research Process, and Part I and Part II on Subjectivity and Reflexivity in Qualitative Research. Last but not least, the issue Doing Biographical Research was published in September 2003. It made the potentials of the Internet apparent as researchers from different countries and disciplines discussed their interpretive perspectives in an interview, which is available to readers to provide further analyses and commentaries in German and in English. For quantitative data on the usage of FQS during 2000-2003, you may visit http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs/fqs-e/zugriffe-e.htm. [2]
The Current Issue
The Special Issue: FQS Reviews III is our third issue involving book reviews. To access the past two issues, see: Special Issue: FQS Reviews I, May 2001 and Special Issue: FQS Reviews II, November 2002. [3]
From the very beginning, FQS Reviews played a crucial role in our journal policy—an obvious fact if you consider that altogether about 200 review notes and review essays were published in FQS. Since its launch, FQS has become the most important distributor of book reviews in the field of qualitative research. [4]
This development is a result of FQS' effort to establish a special profile of the reviews published: the publications are detailed and provide an idea of the content of the respective book as well as of its value within the particular research field. Günter MEY, the FQS Book Review Editor, underlined the potential importance of book reviews for (qualitative) research in several Editorial Notes (see for example MEY 2000, 2002, 2004). According to MEY also book reviews need quality control, similar to the peer review process for other scientific contributions. And book reviews can offer—retrospectively, after a book has been published—quality control for the respective book and in some cases improvements for future contributions. [5]
It is our hope that the articles published in this issue will provide you, the reader, some useful information about the books under review, raise your curiosity and help you decide whether you would like to read the entire book or not. Furthermore the articles should also offer you some ideas about research areas under discussion and create impulses for future commentaries and debates. [6]
As always, in addition to the contributions belonging to Reviews, selected single contributions, some articles on the ongoing FQS Debate Doing Successful Research in the Social Sciences—Ethnography of the Career Politics of an Occupational Group, and some recent conference reports are also available. All in all, 39 articles created FQS 5(1) with contributions from authors from eight countries and various disciplines. Some of the authors being experienced representatives from their field, such as Barney G. GLASER, Christian LÜDERS, Alexander von PLATO, Wolf-Michael ROTH, Jaan VALSINER and Tom WENGRAF, and some who recently began their academic career such as Stefanie GROSSE, Hiltrud KREY or Yew-Jin LEE, to mention a few. [7]
In order to connect the interest of the authors' and you readers to be well-informed about current discussions and developments in the field of qualitative research, colleagues from all over the world were involved in the publication of this issue. So, I would like to cordially thank the issue editors Günter MEY and Kip JONES, the numerous authors and reviewers, and the FQS-Team members, César A. CISNEROS PUEBLA, Robert FAUX, Daniel Domínguez FIGAREDO, Michaela LEDEBUR, Tina PATEL and Wolf-Michael ROTH for their work and commitment in improving the quality of the contributions published. [8]
Enjoy reading!
Katja Mruck, FQS Editor
Mruck, Katja (2004). Editorial "Special Issue: FQS Reviews III" [8 paragraphs]. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 5(1), Art. 22, http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0401226.
Revised 6/2008
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