Qualitative Research for the Information Professional. A Practical Handbook (2nd ed.)

Citation

Ole Pors, N. (2005), "Qualitative Research for the Information Professional. A Practical Handbook (2nd ed.)", Journal of Documentation, Vol. 61 No. 6, pp. 812-813. https://doi.org/10.1108/00220410510632130

Together with colleagues, I used the first edition of the book in a research methodology module and I liked it quite a lot. Later we changed to a text covering fewer data collection methods treating them more in depth. I think I will have to return to the new edition of this book again.

The second edition is in my opinion even better than the first. The second edition appears better rounded and more coherent than the first and of course it has valuable updates for example on software to analyse qualitative data.

The book has a sensible and rather pragmatic approach. It can be seen in the subtitle: A Practical Handbook. The authors emphasise research as a craft that can be conducted without too much involvement of theories of science. It is a viewpoint I fully accept even if some of my colleagues would tend to disagree. The fact that the book does not incorporate more theoretical reasoning does not mean that the book is totally practical. It has as a matter of fact many very good, sound and convincing arguments and reasonings drawn from methodology. Basically, the book is a thorough and well‐formulated textbook that is very suitable for students and it can also work very fine for a more experienced researcher as a reminder and as a handbook.

The book consists of 14 chapters. The first one is concerned with the nature of qualitative research and presents it as an approach that can take many different forms. The authors argue convincingly for a multiple approach or mixed methods whenever possible. The second chapter is an instructive review of how one can judge the quality of research. The third chapter concerns itself with different research design and focuses on observation, interviews, group discussions and historical studies. These methods are explored in depth in later chapters. This chapter also poses some pertinent questions the researcher or students should ask themselves before they choose or engage blindfolded into a certain data collection method. The fourth chapter is also methodological in its approach introducing the case study as a design type for qualitative studies. I found the definitions and explanations of the case study approach very demystifying and the authors also succeed in a good discussion of concepts like validity, reliability in a qualitative context.

The next chapter deals with the foundations of fieldwork. The approach to fieldwork is that the researcher gathers the data in its natural setting. This is a very fine and clear chapter that explains the fundamentals of the qualitative research process and the chapter also contains taxonomy of types of theories. The approach is still the fieldwork that is unfolded in a clear and instructive way. The next chapter continues the fieldwork approach and centres on selection of cases, subjects and the relationship between research problems, research questions and data collection techniques. It is very practical and thoughtful and in my opinion we do find a lot of valuable advice that could benefit students doing a project for the first or second time. For me personally, it worked very well as a reminder.

The first six chapters of the book have laid a sound methodological framework for the actual research process as determined by the data collection. The next four chapters deal with the four data collection methods or techniques: observation, interviewing, group discussion and historical studies. These four chapters on data collection methods cover the pros and cons in relation to the methods and some good examples are incorporated. Apart from that, these chapters are rather conventional but they still offer good value for money.

Chapter eleven covers a topic often omitted in textbooks on methodology – recording the data from the fieldwork exercise. I think this chapter is very valuable for the novice. The next chapter is about the most important topic of all, namely the analysis of qualitative data. The questions have of course been touched upon in all the previous chapters, but it is still a good idea to have a summary of the interpretative process. It is useful but short. There are good examples of how to lay the fundamentals of the analytical process and a short introduction to some of the most well known software packages for textual analysis.

One concerned with the writing of the research report follows this chapter. It covers among other topics styles of writing, targeting audiences and so on. The last chapter is a model case study report.

The book has a good bibliography and a selected bibliography, which is annotated. The book also has a useful index.

There are many good examples or so‐called research scenarios from research illuminating the more theoretical and practical points in the text.

To sum up, it is a book that without any doubt will serve very well in a module on research methodology and it also serves as a handbook for the more experienced reader. It is highly recommended. It has a clear idea, a good structure, methodological reasoning and practical advices and it also gives ideas where to find more information. Reading the book and writing the review I found it easy to convince myself that I have found a new textbook again on qualitative methods.