Listen to Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot read an excerpt from Portraiture.
Portraiture is a method of social science inquiry distinctive in its blending of aesthetics and empiricism, capturing the complexity, dynamics, and subtlety of human experience and organizational life. Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot pioneered this method using 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 this method, 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, and underscores the balance of structure and improvisation as well as order and 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 book also provides general readers with new and illuminating ways of viewing the world.
The Art and Science of Portraiture illuminates the origins, purposes, and features of this method, 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, and underscores the balance of structure and improvisation as well as order and 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 book also provides general readers with new and illuminating ways of viewing the world.