Doing Qualitative Research: A Practical Handbook

Written in a lively, accessible style, this step-by-step guide provides answers to all the questions students ask when beginning their first research project. David Silverman demonstrates how to learn the craft of qualitative research by applying knowledge about different methodologies to actual data. He provides practical advice on key issues, such as: defining `originality′ and narrowing down a topic; keeping a research diary and writing a research report; and presenting research to different audiences.

Packed with case studies and examples of students′ experiences, the book has many features to aid study, including overviews, summaries of key skills and a glossary of terms. Each stage in the research process is grounded in worked examples, with exercises designed both to test students′ knowledge and to encourage the development of practical skills.

David Silverman trained as a sociologist at the London School of Economics and the University of California, Los Angeles. He taught for 32 years at Goldsmiths, University of London. He is interested in conversation and discourse analysis and he has researched medical consultations and HIV-test counselling.

He is the author of Interpreting Qualitative Data (Seventh Edition, 2024) and A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book about Qualitative Research (Second Edition, 2013). He is also the editor of Qualitative Research (Sixth Edition, 2026) and the Sage series, Introducing Qualitative Methods. In recent years, he has offered short, hands-on workshops in qualitative research for research students and faculty at universities in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia.

Now retired from full-time work, David aims to watch one hundred days of cricket a year. He also enjoys voluntary work in an old people’s home where he sings with residents with dementia and strokes.

Amir B. Marvasti is Associate Professor of Sociology at Pennsylvania State University, Altoona. His research focuses on the social construction of deviant identities in everyday life. He is the author of Being Homeless: Textual and Narrative Constructions (Lexington Books 2003), Qualitative Research in Sociology (Sage 2003), Middle Eastern Lives in America (with Karyn McKinney, Rowman and Littlefield 2004), and Doing Qualitative Research: A Comprehensive Guide (with David Silverman, Sage 2008). His articles have been published in the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Qualitative Inquiry, Symbolic Interaction, and Critical Sociology.