New Approaches to Qualitative Research

Qualitative research has seen a surge of growth during the past decade. This is in large part because positivist approaches have not yielded the kinds of results that had been anticipated, and more researchers are seeking alternative perspectives to understand phenomena. The number of researchers using qualitative approaches continues to grow, yet there are few up-to-date guides to assist thinking broadly about qualitative research as a field of inquiry.

Over the decades the range of approaches has increased, which has led to an even greater lack of certainty about how to think about doing qualitative research. In considering key issues while offering practical guidance on how to work within the face of uncertainty, this book will be a valuable resource to this next generation of researchers.

New Approaches to Qualitative Research offers:

• a clear understanding of the range of issues related to researcher stance, the way that researchers position themselves in relation to their subjects, their participants, and their own belief systems, and the way in which they locate themselves across the qualitative paradigm
• an overview of some of the most cutting-edge qualitative techniques in use today: from the exploration of visual texts to the concept of inquiry to synthesis methods, this section lays out the state of the art in methodology
• specific information regarding processes of data analysis, synthesis and interpretation that are employed in these various approaches.

In this book, the authors take the stance that qualitative research is a broad approach that encompasses and even encourages difference and uncertainty, and here at last they provide a route-map to this uncertain but fruitful line of inquiry. This vital text is ideal for professional researchers and postgraduates in a range of subject areas.

Maggi Savin-Baden is Professor of Higher Education Research at Coventry University, UK.

Claire Howell Major is Professor of Higher Education at the University of Alabama, US.