Situational Analysis in Practice

Situational Analysis (SA) uses analytic maps of the situation, processes and relations identified using approaches pioneered in Grounded Theory. Creator of the method, award-winning sociologist Adele E. Clarke, with Rachel Washburn and Carrie Friese, show how the method can be, and has been, used in a variety of critical qualitative studies.

The entirely new second edition of this book offers several chapters on the method and new introductory material from the editors about developments in using SA in qualitative inquiry. Part I introduces readers to the method of SA, discussing recent developments in the field. Part II offers five new chapters about various facets of the SA method, including a history of Grounded Theory and Situational Analysis, SA as critical pragmatist interactionism, using SA in managing a mixed-methods project, and SA mapping in the social policy classroom and in clinical counseling as innovatively collaborative analysis. Part III offers six new exemplary research articles drawn from energy research and international relations, public health research methods, disabled access to public transportation, participation in conservation in a biosphere reserve, and PTSD and the military. Authors’ reflections on their experiences in using the method are also included.

These carefully selected new readings vividly demonstrate how widely this method has travelled, successfully meeting the needs of diverse researchers seeking an innovative relational approach to critically analyzing a wide array of data. Situational Analysis in Practice will be of interest to undergraduate and graduate students practicing the SA method across the social sciences, including sociology and healthcare among other disciplines, as well as research scholars interested in qualitative inquiry.

Adele E. Clarke is Professor Emerita of Sociology and History of Health Sciences, University of California, San Francisco. Extending Grounded Theory, she developed Situational Analysis c. 2000. Rachel, Carrie and Adele have produced three books on this method. Clarke’s sociohistorical studies of science, technology and biomedicine were recognized by major awards.

Rachel Washburn is Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the Health and Society program at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Her research explores the politics of knowledge production in the environmental health sciences with a particular focus on human biomonitoring.

Carrie Friese is a medical sociologist and Associate Professor at London School of Economics. She works at the interface with science and technology studies and focuses substantively on reproduction across human and non-human animals. She has explored reproductive technologies that range from donor gametes for human infertility to cloning for species preservation and animal husbandry practices for laboratory animals.