Concern about the limitations of conventional laboratory-based research combine with a growing interest in real world issues to produce an awareness of the rich potential of qualitative analysis. Increasingly, researchers are adopting qualitative analyses to enrich psychological investigations. Virtually all psychology students undertake practical work as part of their courses. More and more of them are seeking to conduct research which includes qualitative analysis. Too often, though, students lack awareness of the range and diversity of qualitative approaches.
Qualitative analysis can take many different forms, and can use many different sources of data.
For those at the other end, qualitative analysis is an integral part of a full theoretical critique of positivistic methodologies in psychology. This book provides examples of how different psychologists have used qualitative analysis in research. Each chapter is based around a real piece of research, and the researcher discusses exactly how they went about conducting the analysis. The book covers a wide range of theoretical and methodological approaches to qualitative analysis, and because of this it will be of great interest to research psychologists as well as to students.