Doing Interview-based Qualitative Research
A Learner's Guide

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.

Eva Magnusson is Professor Emerita of Psychology and Gender Studies at the University of Umeå, Sweden.
Jeanne Marecek is William R. Kenan Professor Emerita of Psychology at Swarthmore College, USA.