Further Readings

If you are coming to qualitative research for the first time, you are in a fortunate position because there are now many good-quality books available that, like Analysing Qualitative Data in Psychology, provide a background to the emergence of qualitative research in psychology and details of specific approaches and methods. The most influential text in qualitative research across disciplines is Denzin and Lincoln’s (2018) edited volume, The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research, now in its fifth edition. In the UK, noteworthy texts include Willig’s (2013) Introducing Qualitative Research in Psychology and Braun and Clarke’s (2013) Successful Qualitative Research: A Practical Guide for Beginners and the edited volumes by Willig and Stainton-Rogers (2017), entitled The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research in Psychology, and by J.A. Smith (2015), entitled Qualitative Psychology: A Practical Guide to Research Methods.

Turning to journal articles, discussions about combining qualitative and quantitative research approaches inevitably involve debates about whether these are different paradigms. These discussions provide interesting and differing perspectives on qualitative research. For example, see Jackson (2015) and Landrum and Garza (2015). Proposals for evaluative criteria for qualitative research often elicit critical responses from others on the grounds that, for example, the suggested criteria assume a heterogeneity among qualitative approaches that does not exist. However, Gordon and Patterson (2013) test Tracy’s (2010) evaluative criteria and provide a positive appraisal of them. Finally, for an interesting elaboration of the concept of researcher reflexivity (with case examples), see Berger (2015).