Qualitative Psychology: A Practical Guide to Research Methods

What a delight to have the 3rd edition of this important book! Jonathan Smith makes available the wisdom of the most savvy scholars in the field, and they in turn, succeed in communicating with clarity and coherence. This is a vital contribution to the classroom, and to the future of qualitative inquiry in psychology. 

As psychological science matures as a discipline, and as its focus and scope extends to address new issues and challenges for understanding human behaviour, the need for reliable and robust research methodologies increases. This third edition of Jonathan Smith’s book ensures that the full range of qualitative methods are readily accessible to all researchers. The great strength of this edition lies, as it did in previous editions, in the systematic and accessible approach to the different methods. That means that researchers in psychology and related disciplines, from novices to experienced academics, can quickly understand and deploy approaches that are appropriate to answer specific research questions. Each chapter clearly outlines the essential information on theory and application. Moreover the addition of a chapter on choosing between different methods adds to the ease with which the reader can steer towards the right choice of method. No other qualitative methods text achieves this balance between theory and application while managing to maintain an impartial perspective on contrasting approaches. This is, above all, a useful book. It should be on every researcher’s shelf!

1. Introduction - Jonathan A. Smith
2. Conceptual foundations of qualitative psychology - Peter Ashworth
3. Interpretative phenomenological analysis - Jonathan A. Smith and Mike Osborn
4. Grounded theory - Kathy Charmaz
5. Narrative psychology - Michael Murray
6. Conversation analysis - Paul Drew
7. Discourse analysis - Carla Willig
8. Cooperative inquiry: an action research practice - Sarah Riley and Peter Reason
9. Focus groups - Sue Wilkinson
10. Thematic analysis - Victoria Clarke, Virginia Braun, Nikki Hayfield
11. Choosing your approach - Michael Larkin
12. Demonstrating validity in qualitative psychology - Lucy Yardley