Essentials of Descriptive-Interpretive Qualitative Research

Robert Elliott and Ladislav Timulak

This practical, step-by-step guide explains the most important principles for using a generic approach to descriptive-interpretive qualitative research. This book offers a no-nonsense, step-by-step approach to qualitative research in psychology and related fields, presenting principles for using a generic approach to descriptive-interpretive qualitative research. Based on more than 50 years of combined experience doing qualitative research on psychotherapy, the authors offer an overarching framework of best research practices common to a wide range of approaches.

Essentials of Narrative Analysis

Ruthellen Josselson and Phillip L. Hammack

In this book, Ruthellen Josselson and Phillip L. Hammack introduce readers to narrative analysis, a qualitative method that investigates how people make meaning of their lives and experiences in both social and cultural contexts. This method offers researchers a window into how individuals’ stories are shaped by the categories they inhabit, such as gender, race, class, and sexual identity, and it preserves the voice of the individual through a close textual analysis of their storytelling.

Essentials of Autoethnography

Christopher N. Poulos

In this step-by-step guide to writing autoethnography, Christopher Poulos provides a step-by-step guide to writing autoethnography, illustrating its essential features and practices with excerpts from his own and others’ work. 

Essentials of Critical-Constructivist Grounded Theory Research

Heidi M. Levitt

This practical, step-by-step guide explains how to use critical-constructivist grounded theory methods, a flexible approach to investigating topics within psychological, interpersonal, and sociocultural contexts. This flexible approach can aid researchers in investigating topics within psychological, interpersonal, and sociocultural contexts.

Essentials of Ideal-Type Analysis

Emily Stapley, Sally O'Keeffe, and Nicholas J. Midgley

This book explains how to conduct a qualitative research study using ideal-type analysis, an ideal method for studying individual cases in depth but also understanding patterns across multiple study participants. Essentials of Ideal-Type Analysis is the perfect guide for qualitative researchers who want to explore individual cases in depth, but also understand patterns across multiple study participants. Ideal-type analysis is a method for forming typologies from qualitative data.

Essentials of Discursive Psychology

Linda M. McMullen

In this step-by-step guide to conducting a research study, Linda McMullen describes the innovative ways in which discursive psychology analyzes language at both the micro and macro levels. Discursive psychologists reconceptualize talk and text as being situated in a social context, rather than thinking of talk as a route to our thoughts. For example, this approach could be used to study how people use arguments for and against the notion of human-induced climate change, or how they criticize each other in face-to-face encounters.

Discursive psychologists reconceptualize talk and text as being situated in a social context, rather than thinking of talk as a route to our thoughts. For example, this approach could be used to study how people use arguments for and against the notion of human-induced climate change, or how they criticize each other in face-to-face encounters.

Essentials of Consensual Qualitative Research

Clara E. Hill and Sarah Knox

This concise, practical guide provides step-by-step advice and tips on how to plan and conduct a consensual qualitative research study. In this volume, Clara E. Hill and Sarah Knox describe consensual qualitative research (CQR), an inductive method characterized by open-ended interview questions, small samples, a reliance on words over numbers, the importance of context, an integration of multiple viewpoints (for example, the consensus of the research team and auditors), and a high emphasis on rigor and replicability.

Essentials of Existential Phenomenological Research

Scott D. Churchill

In this book, Scott D. Churchill introduces readers to existential phenomenological research, an approach that seeks an in-depth, embodied understanding of subjective human existence that reflects a person’s values, purposes, ideals, intentions, emotions, and relationships. This method helps researchers understand the lives and needs of others by helping identify and set aside theoretical and ideological prejudgments.

Essentials of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

Jonathan A. Smith and Isabella E. Nizza

Essentials of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis is a step-by-step guide to a research method that investigates how people make sense of their lived experience in the context of their personal and social worlds. It is especially well-suited to exploring experiences perceived as highly significant, such as major life and relationship changes, health challenges, and other emotion-laden events.

Essentials of Critical Participatory Action Research

Michelle Fine and María Elena Torre

In this book, Michelle Fine and María Elena Torre provide an introduction to critical participatory action research, an approach that reveals the everyday stories of struggle and survival of the persons being studied, combats social injustice, and leverages social science research for action. Critical participatory action research challenges the traditional and narrow ways in which research has been conducted and elevates the voices and perspectives of formerly marginalized groups.

Essentials of Thematic Analysis

Gareth Terry and Nikki Hayfield

In this book, Gareth Terry and Nikki Hayfield introduce readers to reflexive thematic analysis, a method of analyzing interview and focus group transcripts, qualitative survey responses, and other qualitative data.

Central to this method is the recognition that we are all situated in a particular context, and that we see and speak from that position. This leads researchers to produce knowledge that represents situated truths, providing insights into people’s perspectives on a given topic.

Essentials of Conversation Analysis

Alexa Hepburn and Jonathan Potter

In this book, Alexa Hepburn and Jonathan Potter provide an introduction to conversation analysis, a qualitative approach that examines the actions and interactions that take place in face-to-face conversations, phone calls, texts, and various forms of media.

The book is designed as a practical analytic handbook that provides a comprehensive introduction to the different elements and phases in analyzing conversation. The authors guide the reader through data collection, transcription, analysis, and writing papers, providing an invaluable starting point for researchers who wish to explore conversation analysis and get a foothold in its literature.

Essentials of Qualitative Meta-Analysis

Ladislav Timulak and Mary Creaner

This book is a step-by-step guide to conducting qualitative meta-analysis (QMA). This flexible and generic method synthesizes the findings of several research studies investigating similar phenomena. Given the ever-increasing number of qualitative studies in the social sciences, QMA answers the need for rigorous secondary analysis that offers a more conclusive picture of a field of inquiry.