Introducing Qualitative Research

PART ONE: INTRODUCTIONThe Scope and Contribution of Qualitative ResearchResearch DesignEthicsPART TWO: GENERATING DATAEthnographyInterviewingFocus GroupsPART THREE: COMPLEX RESEARCH DESIGNS IN PRACTICEMixing MethodsAction ResearchPART FOUR: ANALYZING AND PRESENTING QUALITATIVE DATAAnalysis Groundwork Storing, Coding and Retrieving DataInterrogating Your Data Identifying PatternsTheorizing in Qualitative Data AnalysisPresenting and Writing Up Qualitative ResearchNew Challenges and Perennial Dilemmas

InterestsCurrent research spans both of the School's programmes and includes work with colleagues in Dundee and Bristol on developing an intervention for weight loss part partum and understanding the reasons for suboptimal uptake of folic acid. A personal programme of work is concerned with the sociology of recovery and involves research into young adult cancer patients' concerns about future fertility (with colleagues from Aberdeen), reintegration after stroke, and the long-term outcomes for women who have experienced post partum psychosis (with colleagues at St.Andrews).Her research career has covered a wide variety of topics located at the intersection of the clinical and the social - e.g. HIV/AIDS; reproductive health and fertility; psychosocial health; and obesity. Rose's theoretical interests centre around the links between identity and agency, and implications for health promotion and clinical practice. Rose has a particular interest in rigour in qualitative research and has published widely on this topic in a range of academic journals. Reflecting her conviction that qualitative research is a craft skill, Rose has developed an innovative series of 'hands-on' qualitative methods workshops. She has been invited to present these workshops throughout the UK, in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, France, the US and Canada. She co-edited Developing Focus Group Research: Politics, Theory and Practice (Sage, 1999). Her most recent books - Introducing Qualitative Research: A Student Guide to the Craft of Doing Qualitative Research (Sage, 2008) and Doing Focus Groups (Sage, 2008) - bring together and share the expertise she has developed through running workshops for a variety of audiences over the past 15 years.

[In this book] Barbour drawns upon her extensive research experience as a medicail sociologist to offer those new to qualitaive research a 'vicarious apprenticeship' in the 'craft' of qualitative research...Indeed, anyone new to postgraduate qualitative research will welcome the single port of call Barbour creates with regard to analysis and groundwork, interrogating data and theorizing in qualitative data analysis. This is because she has taken a considered, informed and holistic approach to qualitative research, and created a rich and user-friendly resource Qualitative Research



The book's four sections steadily work through the research process with chapters on ethnography, interviews, and focus groups as well as 'Mixing Methods' and 'Action Research'. Chapters begin with student-friendly bullet-pointed aims, and finish with workshop exercises and further reading...The inclusion of three substantial chapters on analysis, theorizing and 'Presenting and Writing Up Qualitative Research' make this publication stand out from the crowd for attending to the daunting 'what next' of qualitative research....Barbour's use of real-life examples from her own experience is the most noteworthy aspect of this book, providing as it does accessible ways in for readers to imagine qualitative research. I found that the transcription excerpts, interview and focus group schedules, and various other anecdotal reflections were effectively used to stimulate engagementSociology