Doing Interview-based Qualitative Research
A Learner's Guide

An accessible step-by-step guide to the process of interview-based qualitative research – from formulating researchable questions to writing final reports.

Eva Magnusson (Author), Jeanne Marecek (Author)

9781107062337, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 1 October 2015

193 pages
25.2 x 17.9 x 1.3 cm, 0.55 kg

'Crafted by two highly accomplished researchers, this text is an invaluable resource for students and seasoned researchers alike … Doing Interview-Based Qualitative Research is a remarkably generous contribution to the teaching and learning of qualitative methods.' Michelle Lafrance, Feminism & Psychology

For many students, the experience of learning about and using qualitative methods can be bewildering. This book is an accessible step-by-step guide to conducting interview-based qualitative research projects. The authors discuss the 'hows' and 'whys' of qualitative research, showing readers the practices as well as the principles behind them. The book first describes how to formulate research questions suited to qualitative inquiry. It then discusses in detail how to select and invite research participants into a study and how to design and carry out good interviews. It next presents several ways to analyze interviews and provides readers with many worked examples of analyses. It also discusses how to synthesize findings and how to present them. Doing Interview-based Qualitative Research equips readers in disciplines such as psychology, sociology, education, counseling, nursing, and public health with the knowledge and skills necessary to embark on their own projects.

1. Introduction
2. Some examples of interpretative research
3. Planning and beginning an interpretative research project
4. Making decisions about participants
5. Designing the interview guide
6. Doing the interview
7. Preparing for analysis
8. Finding meanings in people's talk
9. Analyzing stories in interviews
10. Analyzing talk as action
11. Analyzing for implicit cultural meanings
12. Reporting your project
Epilogue.

Subject Areas: Psychology [JM], Social research & statistics [JHBC], Research methods: general [GPS]