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Keywords in Qualitative Methods
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Keywords in Qualitative Methods
A Vocabulary of Research Concepts


Other Titles in:
Qualitative Research

208 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd

This is an accessible and practical guide to qualitative techniques for students and researchers across the social and health sciences. An essential companion for any student, the book provides a wide-ranging coverage of qualitative methods complemented by extended illustration from the array of academic disciplines in which qualitative research is found and employed.

Comprehensive in its range of topics, each entry includes:

  • A concise definition of the method
  • A description of distinctive features
  • Examples to convey the flavour of a technique or principle
  • A critical and reflective evaluation of the method or approach under consideration
  • Cross references to associated concepts within the dictionary
  • A list of key readings

Written in a lively and reader-friendly style, this is an essential study guide for students and first-time researchers. It is a primary source of reference for advanced study, a necessary supplement to established textbooks, and a comprehensive reference guide to the specialized language of qualitative research across the social sciences.

 
Access Negotiations
 
Action Research
 
Analytic Induction
 
Analytic Notes (see Research Diary)
 
Authenticity (see Naturalism)
 
Authorial presence (see Reflexivity)
 
Audio-recording
 
Autoethnography
 
Bias
 
Biographies
 
Case Study
 
Chicago School (see Symbolic Interactionism)
 
Citizens' Jury
 
Coding (see Indexing)
 
Cognitive Mapping
 
Community Studies (see Action Research and Ethnography)
 
Computer-Assisted Data Analysis
 
Computer Mediated Interviewing (see Electronic Data Collection)
 
Confessional Accounts (see Writing)
 
Constant Comparative Method (see Grounded Theory)
 
Conversation Analysis
 
Covert Research
 
Critical Cases (see Case Study)
 
Dangerous Fieldwork
 
Data Protection (see Ethics)
 
Deconstructionism (see Discourse Analysis)
 
Delphi Groups
 
Depth Interviews (see Interviewing)
 
Deviant Case Analysis (see Analytic Induction)
 
Diary Methods
 
Discourse Analysis
 
Documentary Methods
 
Electronic Data Collection
 
Ethics
 
Ethnography
 
Ethnomethodology
 
Feminist Methods
 
Fieldnotes
 
Fieldwork Relationships
 
Focus Groups
 
Foreshadowed Problems (see Ethnography)
 
Gatekeepers (see Access Negotiations)
 
Generalisation
 
Going Native (see Bias)
 
Grounded Theory
 
Group Interviews
 
Indexing
 
Indigenous Researchers (see Public Participation)
 
Informed Consent (see Ethics)
 
Interviews
 
Key Informants
 
Leaving the Field
 
Life History (see Oral History)
 
Logical Analysis
 
Member Validation (see Triangulation)
 
Meta Ethnography
 
Mixed Methods (see Multiple Methods)
 
Multiple Methods
 
Narratives
 
Naturalism
 
Observation (see Ethnography)
 
Oral History
 
Participant Observation (see Ethnography)
 
Phenomenological Methods
 
Piloting
 
Positivism (see Naturalism)
 
Postmodernism
 
Post-Structuralism (see Postmodernism)
 
Process Evaluation
 
Public Participation
 
Public/Private Accounts
 
Public Sociology (see Whose Side Are We On?)
 
Purposive Sampling (see Sampling)
 
Qualitative/Quantitative Combinations (see Multiple Methods)
 
Rapid Assessment
 
Realism (see Naturalism)
 
Reflexivity
 
Reliability
 
Research Diary
 
Researcher Safety (see Dangerous Fieldwork)
 
Respondent Validation (see Triangulation)
 
Sampling
 
Semi-Structured Interviews (see Interviews)
 
Social Network Analysis
 
Software (see Computer-Assisted Data Analysis)
 
Symbolic Interactionism
 
Taxonomies
 
Telephone Interviewing (see Electronic Data Collection)
 
Thick Description (see Theoretical Saturation)
 
Theoretical Sampling (see Sampling)
 
Theoretical Saturation
 
Time Sampling (see Sampling)
 
Transcription
 
Triangulation
 
Trust
 
Uses of Qualitative Research
 
Video Recording
 
Video Analysis (see Video Recording)
 
Vignettes
 
Virtual Focus Groups (see Focus Groups)
 
Validity (see Reliability)
 
Whose Side Are We On?
 
Writing

'The book at hand is a very useful additional reference to the qualitative research methodology bibliography' - Qualitative Research

R.V. Labaree
University of Southern California
CHOICE

'The book at hand is a very useful additional reference to the qualitative research methodology bibliography' - Qualitative Research


Useful for students' dissertations - the writers appear to have the same values as our team so this book is a great addition to the reading list

Mrs Angela Hodgkins
Institute of Education, Worcester University
February 23, 2020

This is a useful resourse that will be appreciated by our students as a quick reference guide

Mrs Liana Beattie
Faculty of Education (Ormskirk), Edge Hill University
October 5, 2015

Many students arrive at university with a limited understanding of many of the key words and phrases that we often take for granted. This text provides a useful reference handbook for students to refer to in order to address these small, but often key misunderstandings.

Dr Jim Clack
Department of Primary Education, Bedfordshire Univ.
July 3, 2014

Very helpful indeed to help define concepts but not much of a good structure for students to find their way in the labyrint of qualitative research

Dr Karin Hannes
Psychology and Education, K.U.Leuven
May 13, 2013

A useful 'dip-into' type book for students working fairly independently at the start of their projects. I have made a few copies available.

Ms Sally Beckwith
Faculty of Health & Social Care, London South Bank University
March 20, 2012

It is a great reference guide and does an excellent job of explaining the particulars of a given term, as well as including additional readings on the topic.

Dr Kathryn De Medeiros
Sociology and Anthropology, University of Maryland Baltimore County
June 9, 2011

Michael Bloor

editorial board member, Qualitative Research, and Chair, Trustees of the Foundation which owns the Sociology of Health and Illness journal More About Author

Fiona Wood

After graduating with a first class degree in Geography from Manchester University, I worked for 4 years as a researcher in the department of Public Health Medicine in Gwent Health Authority. In 1995 I moved to the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University where I started my academic career as a research assistant working on a Department of Health funded study to estimate the prevalence of injecting drug use in Wales using the ‘contact-recontact’ method. Between 1997 and 2003 I worked as a Research/Tutorial Fellow for the same department. In this role I was engaged in teaching medical sociology and research methods as well as... More About Author

For instructors

SAGE Research Methods is a research methods tool created to help researchers, faculty and students with their research projects. SAGE Research Methods links over 175,000 pages of SAGE’s renowned book, journal and reference content with truly advanced search and discovery tools. Researchers can explore methods concepts to help them design research projects, understand particular methods or identify a new method, conduct their research, and write up their findings. Since SAGE Research Methods focuses on methodology rather than disciplines, it can be used across the social sciences, health sciences, and more.