Doing Interview-based Qualitative Research: A Learner's Guide

by Eva Magnusson, Jeanne Marecek

Overview

For many students, the experience of learning about and using qualitative methods can be bewildering. This book is an accessible step-by-step guide to conducting interview-based qualitative research projects. The authors discuss the 'hows' and 'whys' of qualitative research, showing readers the practices as well as the principles behind them. The book first describes how to formulate research questions suited to qualitative inquiry. It then discusses in detail how to select and invite research participants into a study and how to design and carry out good interviews. It next presents several ways to analyze interviews and provides readers with many worked examples of analyses. It also discusses how to synthesize findings and how to present them. Doing Interview-based Qualitative Research equips readers in disciplines such as psychology, sociology, education, counseling, nursing, and public health with the knowledge and skills necessary to embark on their own projects.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781107062337
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	10/01/2015
Pages:	193
Product dimensions:	7.05(w) x 9.92(h) x 0.51(d)

About the Author

Eva Magnusson is Professor Emerita of Psychology and Gender Studies at the University of Umeå, Sweden.

Jeanne Marecek is William R. Kenan Professor Emerita of Psychology at Swarthmore College, USA.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction; 2. Some examples of interpretative research; 3. Planning and beginning an interpretative research project; 4. Making decisions about participants; 5. Designing the interview guide; 6. Doing the interview; 7. Preparing for analysis; 8. Finding meanings in people's talk; 9. Analyzing stories in interviews; 10. Analyzing talk as action; 11. Analyzing for implicit cultural meanings; 12. Reporting your project; Epilogue.

Editorial Reviews

"An insightful guide to designing and conducting a very widely used research approach that not only does justice (in multiple senses) to both the transformative commitment inspiring many qualitative researchers but also insists on the theoretical rigour such an interpretive enterprise demands, and correspondingly offers clear worked examples of different approaches to analysis. A particular further merit is the attention to wide geographical and cross disciplinary reach. The authors draw on extensive experience in formulating this accessible guide, which manages to be practical, engaged and informed, without being bogged down by jargon."
Erica Burman, University of Manchester

"This volume offers students and their advisors clear and detailed advice about each stage in planning interview-based research, in data collection and in the data analysis and interpretation process. The authors offer many examples drawn from their own and others' research - examples that will help new and experienced researchers understand the subtle and sometimes-fraught process of deciding how to interpret what research participants mean. Researchers will read this volume once before they begin a project but it will be consulted over and over in the course of doing a project, and consulting it will truly help!"
Abigail J. Stewart, Sandra Schwartz Tangri Distinguished University Professor of Psychology and Women's Studies, University of Michigan

"An excellent introduction - packed with fascinating examples and lucid descriptions of the process of qualitative interview-based research. Highly recommended for beginners and the more experienced alike!"
Margaret Wetherell, University of Auckland and Emerita Professor, Social Sciences, The Open University

'Crafted by two highly accomplished researchers, this text is an invaluable resource for students and seasoned researchers alike … Doing Interview-Based Qualitative Research is a remarkably generous contribution to the teaching and learning of qualitative methods.' Michelle Lafrance, Feminism & Psychology

From the Publisher