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Doing Your Qualitative Psychology Project
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Doing Your Qualitative Psychology Project

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March 2012 | 232 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd

This book is for students who are about to embark on a qualitative research project as part of their psychology degree. While there are a number of books on qualitative psychological research, this book is unique as it leads you step-by-step through the process of doing your project and writing your dissertation. The focus throughout is on how to make your project excellent!

The book focuses on the steps involved in completing a qualitative dissertation and on the decisions that you'll need to make as you go along. The book will lead you through:

  • Designing your project
  • Ethical considerations
  • Collecting your data
  • Analyzing your data
  • Writing your dissertation

In addition, the book will help you with time management working with your supervisor, as well as provide guidance on how you can use your projects as the basis for publication or further study.

Cath Sullivan, Stephen Gibson and Sarah Riley
Introduction and Aims of the Book
Kathryn Kinmond
Coming up with a Research Question
Cath Sullivan and Sarah C.E Riley
Planning and Ethics
Sarah C.E Riley and Nigel King
Managing the Project
Michael Forrester
Doing a Literature Review
Siobhan Hugh-Jones and Stephen Gibson
Collecting Your Data
Stephen Gibson and Siobhan Hugh-Jones
Analysing Your Data
Nollaig Frost and Kathryn Kinmond
Evaluating Qualitative Research
Sarah C.E Riley
Writing up a Qualitative Project
Cath Sullivan
What Next?
Stephen Gibson, Cath Sullivan and Sarah C.E Riley
Overview and Conclusions: Be a Scholar

Thanks to this new book, psychology students now have a trustworthy and practical guide that takes them through all stages of qualitative research with rich examples and different paradigmatic perspectives
Svend Brinkmann
Aalborg University, Denmark


A well thought-out, accessible and engaging guide to conducting qualitative research projects. This is a must-read for any student beginning the qualitative journey
Abigail Locke
University of Huddersfield, UK



"This is a well-edited, interesting, and intelligent guide for students in the social sciences. The book's strengths include the effective way in which the contributors use flowcharts, inserts, and examples of students' research; the consistently high quality of the writing; and the almost seamless integration across chapters."

S. Halling
Seattle University
Choice

This book has many strengths. It provides a good overview of the theoretical background and key issues involved in doing a qualitative project, but more importantly there is a plethora of very useful, clearly written and accessible practical advice, as well as case studies... This is an essential book to read before embarking on one’s first qualitative project.

Aspasia E. Paltoglou
Department of Psychology Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester
The British Psychological Society QMiP Bulletin - Issue 29

Great overview, methodological kite easy to explain

Mr Olivier Fuchs
Cologne Business School, CBS, Cologne Business School
December 17, 2020

This is a really accessible and practical guide to conducting qualitative research. We used this book as core reading for a research methods course in the 2018-19 academic year and are up-dating to use the next edition of this book for 2019-20.

Dr Kirsten Bartlett
Department of Psychology, Sheffield University
August 11, 2019

Adopted as essential reading for anyone undertaking qualitative inquiry. The book contains 11 chapters that walk the reader through the process of doing a qualitative research project. The topics that are covered range from developing a research question; planning the project and ethical considerations; how to manage the project; conducting the literature review; gathering data; data analysis; evaluating the project; and the process of writing up the project. The text is extremely useful for students new to qualitative research and for experienced researchers.

Dr Gary McKenna
School of Engineering & Computing (Paisley), University of the West of Scotland
June 21, 2017

Bland
Too much bulk text

Miss Hanna Storey
Sport and Public Services, NEW College Pontefract
June 6, 2016

A very good book for qualitative research

Dr George Varvatsoulias
Counselling, Newham College of Further Education
January 16, 2015

A very essential and well written book for students on both BA and MA level doing a qualitative research project. It gives very practical advice and was well received by my students.

Dr Carolin Demuth
Communication & Psychology Department, Aalborg University
May 26, 2014

I will be recommending this book to any of my students who decide to undertake a qualitative research project

Dr Julie Prescott
Psychology , University of Bolton
October 4, 2013

Sample Materials & Chapters

Chapter Two


Cath Sullivan

Cath Sullivan is Senior Lecturer in Psychology in the University of Central Lancashire. Cath has been an actively involved in initiatives to support the teaching of qualitative research methods in psychology since 2005 and is a former Chair of the Higher Education Academy ‘Teaching Qualitative Psychology’ Special Interest Group. In addition to this work supporting and training psychology lecturers who teach qualitative methods, Cath has over 10 years’ experience of teaching qualitative methods to undergraduate and postgraduate students. Her published articles and book chapters include empirical qualitative papers and pieces about... More About Author

Stephen Gibson

Stephen Gibson is Bicentennial Chair in Research Methods and Director of Doctoral Programmes in the School of Social Sciences, Heriot Watt University. He is a social psychologist with research interests in obedience and social influence, identity and citizenship, and representations of peace and conflict. In addition, he has been involved in numerous projects concerning the teaching of qualitative research methods. Between 2008 and 2011 he was chair of the TQRMUL group, and is co-editor (with Simon Mollan) of the volume Representations of Peace and Conflict (Palgrave, 2012). More About Author

Sarah Riley

Sarah Riley is a Professor in Critical Health Psychology at Massey University, Aotearoa New Zealand. Her award-winning, interdisciplinary research focuses on relationships between discourse, affect, technology, and materiality. Recent co-authored books include Technologies of Sexiness (OUP USA, 2014), Postfeminism and Health (Routledge, 2019), Postfeminism and Body Image (Routledge, 2022); and Digital Feeling (Palgrave, 2023); she chaired the British Psychology Society’s Qualitative Methods in Psychology section (2017-19), and teaches qualitative research methods. More About Author

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