Doing Qualitative Research in Psychology
A Practical Guide
- Michael A Forrester - University of Kent, UK
This unique text provides a complete introduction to qualitative methods in psychology and will be ideal reading for anyone doing a course in qualitative psychology or planning a practical project using qualitative approaches. Forrester's book has been developed in tandem with its own dataset, collected specifically for the book which will be a unique resource for any students using the text. Using interview recordings (video and audio, available to readers on-line) alongside worked examples of different ways to analyze the same dataset, the handbook and the interview data together provide an invaluable resource for anybody interested in either learning or teaching qualitative methods in psychology.
Following an elucidating introduction, Doing Qualitative Research in Psychology: A Practical Guide offers clear and useful descriptions and explanations of how and why research questions are formulated and the importance of selecting appropriate methods for investigations, with a focus on semi-structured interviewing (as used in the on-line data).
The book describes four specific qualitative methods, explaining in a very clear 'how to proceed' style, how each of these methods can form the basis of a qualitative methods laboratory class, practical, or field study. It also describes precisely how research reports using qualitative methods are written, in line with the appropriate conventions of report writing in psychology.
All in all, this is simply the most useful undergraduate qualitative research methods book one could wish for.
This is a really good text giving practical, accessible yet thorough information and guidance. I like the fact that there is attention given to the theoretical underpinnings of qualitative work, and then the themed chapters on the different approaches work very well. I am impressed with this text and will certainly be recommending it to students undertaking qualitative research projects
I really liked this title. Found it very informative. Alas, a little too informative for general undergraduate level research methods course. I'm going to stick to a research methods book that covers qualitative and quantiative methods together. I thought it was very well written though, and the examples were very useful.
core text as part of qualitative methods for grounded theory coursework.
Well written and easy to follow book explaining qualitative methods
This is a very readable textbook with addresses a range of important areas to consider when thinking about embarking on qualitative research. Its added value is that it comes with a companion website and a range of videoed interviews and transcripts to use for training purposes and to develop one's skills in analysing text. It is a highly recommended book for people who are novice to qualitative reserach, as well as more experienced researchers.
This book is adopted as recommended book for next year 2012
This is a very good book. The only reason that I would not adopt it as essential is that the project that students have to do is using IPA and we have a specific IPA book for this. As more general book the book by Carla Willig has more theoretical/ philosophical considerations and therefore supplements the IPA book better.
useful supplemental resource for undergraduate and postgraduatre students
I have adopted the following book:
Creswell, J.W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches.
Excellent introductory and hands on for students beginning qualitative dissertations
This book provides a clear and logical progression through the selection and implementation of a qualitative approach. The use of the same data to illustrate differing analysis is extremely useful for illustrating to studets how these approaches differ. In addition there are numerous redirections to additional texts which i found very useful.
