An introduction to qualitative research

A new edition of this book is available

`This text is a unique contribution to the body of general theoretical material about this rapidly expanding field of inquiry in social psychology as well as the social and health sciences' - Contemporary Psychology

`A highly readable introduction to the most important qualitative research methodologies' - British Journal of Sociology

`With Uwe Flick's book, instruction in the field of qualitative research finally comes of age. This is the text I wish I had written! Now students have access to the latest developments in interpretive qualitative inquiry, from symbolic interactionism and ethnomethodology to structuralism and poststructuralism. This is a very important book and it will contribute to a new generation of sophisticated qualitative researchers.' Norman K Denzin, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

`This is a most interesting, timely and necessary introductory text into qualitative research. It is a courageous and successful attempt to cut through the "new obscurities" of qualitative methods ... I will recommend this text to my students' - Martin Bauer, London School of Economics

`This introduction provides an excellent overview of the most important methods of qualitative research which were developed in the social sciences over the past decades, sketches their history and their theoretical foundations. Perhaps the most valuable feature of the book, next to its inclusiveness is the detailed description of the methods and techniques, and a judicious weighing of their usefulness and disadvantages to achieve given analytic aims' - Thomas Luckmann, University of Konstanz

This carefully constructed textbook provides an introduction to the theory and practice of qualitative research. The author leads students through the myriad of qualitative methods by providing a systematic structure for comparing the various methods, for designing the research process, for ordering the evidence, and for grounding the claims of theory from text and working back from text to theory.

All the major theories, methods and new approaches are presented in an accessible manner. These include how to construct and interpret verbal data, such as interviews and biographies, visual and observational data with practical information on how to document, analyze, code and categorize data.