A Companion Guide to Qualitative Research

Len Tiu Wright (Editor of QMRIJ)
Adrian Wright (Incorporating Student Perspective, Warwick University)

Qualitative Market Research

ISSN: 1352-2752

Article publication date: 1 September 2005

746

Citation

Tiu Wright, L. and Wright, A. (2005), "A Companion Guide to Qualitative Research", Qualitative Market Research, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 246-247. https://doi.org/10.1108/13522750510603398

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2005, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


I find myself in agreement with the way the editors have explained their content about qualitative research from the outset in Part 1: chapter 1. This is instrumental in setting the scene and the rationale for the use of the book and the way they have structured the book to show the diverse representations of the subject by 49 writers. The editors and their contributors can be commended for their expertise in writing about their related fields in qualitative research. I would recommend this book to read for scholarly interest or just as a good read in one's spare time.

The book is divided into seven parts. Part 2 follows with Qualitative Research In Action: Paradigmatic Research Styles. The chapters contain writings about researchers who have influenced the landscape of qualitative research from grounded theory, ethology, ethnomethodology, ethnographic research, ethno‐psychoanalysis, interactionist to politically relevant social research. As with the rest of the book the chapters are short and they might well leave the reader to wonder what impact they really have on our modern day social and business settings. To be fair to the book it does not purport to answer these questions, yet the chapters are attempting to convey the sense of a legacy in qualitative research that will leave its enduring mark. Part 3A: The Theory of Qualitative Research embodies other established paths from phenomenology, symbolic interactionism, constructivism to social scientific hermeneutics. If there is a drawback to the book it is the shortness of all the chapters as they lack sufficient room for guiding those who want to see how to apply theories to practical applications i.e. for practitioners and business organizations or to those involved in the implementation of qualitative strategies. For example, as gleaned from the brief chapters about the toolkit for qualitative research represented in Part: 3B: Qualitative Research Programmes, Part 4: Methodology and Qualitative Research, Part 5: Doing Qualitative Research.

This is a book dominated by Western European authors with very few contributors from the USA. Perhaps the idea of what the “Companion Guide” entails needs to be made more explicit in the latter part of the book too. There is no direct relationship between the chapters as different writers vary in their treatment of topics, but this is not a problem since the parts are constructed logically to incorporate the various aspects of the chapters. There is a nice even handed approach to the composition of the book. So anyone interested in qualitative research and in the views of its 49 writers should read this book. It is suitable for academics as a source of reference and for hints in teaching qualitative research, e.g. Part 6: Qualitative Research in Context. First time graduates and postgraduate researchers should find this book helpful in seeking to follow through their modes of inquiry and to update their knowledge. They should see also Part 7: Resources, and there is a long list of references at the end of the book. Undergraduates would do well to ensure that they supplement their readings with other books such as An Introduction to Qualitative Research (2002) by Uwe Flick and Doing Qualitative Research (2005) by David Silverman.

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