Qualitative Research The Essential Guide to Theory and Practice

Part 1: Considering perspectives

1. Qualitative research

2. A brief history of philosophical perspectives

3. Research choices and lenses

Part 2: Acknowledging a position

4. Philosophical stance

5.  Personal stance, positionality and reflexivity

Part 3: Framing the study

6.    The ‘who’ or ‘what’ of study

7.    Research questions

8.    Literature review

9. Theoretical and conceptual frameworks

Part 4: Choosing a research approach

10. Case study

11.  Pragmatic qualitative research

12.  Grounded theory 

13.  Ethnography

14.  Phenomenology  

15.  Narrative approaches

16.  Action research

17.  Collaborative approaches

18.  Evaluation

19.  Art-based approaches

Part 5: Collecting data

20.  Time, place and participants

21.  Ethics and ethical approval

22.  Fieldwork

23.  Interviews 

24.  Focus groups

25.  Observation

26.  Documents

Part 6: Working with data and findings

27.  Data handling and coding

28.  Data analysis

29.  Data Interpretation

30.  Quality

Part 7: Writing about the research

31.  Researcher voice

32.  The research report

33. Writing strategies and writing for publication

Biography

Maggi Savin-Baden is Senior Research Fellow, Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford.

Claire Howell Major is Professor of Higher Education at the University of Alabama, USA.

This is an excellent resource for any student or academic undertaking qualitative research. The beauty of the collection of over thirty chapters is that it contains almost everything anyone needs to know about qualitative research, from understanding the basics (what is a paradigm?) to more complex aspects such as making sense of data and how to interpret it. It is the researcher's companion of first recourse. 

Professor Alison MacKenzie, Director of Postgraduate Research, School of Sociology, Education and Social Work, Queen's University Belfast, UK.  

 

Savin-Baden and Howell Major’s comprehensive, state-of-the-art volume offers researchers pragmatic guidance for qualitative inquiry, ranging from philosophical foundations to data generation and analysis. This authoritative resource outlines the spectrum of methods necessary for well-designed qualitative projects, and provides students and in-service professionals insightful pathways for social investigation. 

Professor Johnny Saldaña, Professor Emeritus, Arizona State University, USA. 

 

It's clear that Maggi Savin-Baden and Claire Howell Major have done all researchers a huge favour! They have grappled with and peeled back the layers of what it means to think and do research in a world that will seemingly never be without dystopias and new questions. 

Professor Nuraan Davids, Professor of Philosophy of Education in the Department of Education Policy Studies, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. 

 

This text remains an important resource for students, new faculty, and anyone invested in qualitative research as a layered, ethically-engaged, and philosophically-informed practice of inquiry. More than a simple overview of theories or practices, Savin-Baden and Howell Major put concepts and research design to work within an interdisciplinary array of research contexts with remarkable clarity and sophistication. The result is a text that researchers of all types will keep by their side as a helpful companion as they develop and facilitate their own qualitative research projects. 

Professor Aaron M. Kuntz, Dean of the School of Education and Human Development, Florida International University, USA. 

 

This textbook offers a collection of chapters that provide everything that a new or established scholar needs to ground their research in qualitative methodologies. It should be essential reading on all research methodology courses.  

Dr Maria Power, Senior Research Fellow at the Las Casas Institute for Social Justice, Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford, UK. 

 

This second edition of Qualitative Research: The essential Guide to Theory and Practice entirely lives up to its billing: it is an essential resource not only for research students and newer researchers but also for lecturers in the field.  With its range, accessibility, tight structure and judicious guidance, Maggi Savin-Baden and Claire Howell Major share their considerable experience as researchers and their belief that qualitative research can impart valuable kinds of understanding in a complex world.  Its sections on theory, digital possibilities and writing, together with supporting vignettes from scholars worldwide, seal the volume’s authority.

Professor Ronald Barnett, Emeritus Professor of Higher Education, University College London, UK. 

 

In this highly accessible and comprehensive text, Savin-Baden and Howell Major artfully guide readers through a range of critical choices in conducting qualitative research. They provide conceptual clarity and practical advice in what I envisage will be a ‘go-to’ recommended text for both postgraduate students and academics new to the field. 

Professor Susan M. Bridges, Director of Practice at the Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, The University of Hong Kong.