The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research Design

This Handbook will prove invaluable to all researchers specialising in qualitative research in its many forms. An extraordinarily rich combination of authors and approaches, it provides timely consideration of multiple angles of research design. It is an exciting, insightful and important collection, offering both a highly contemporary reflection on qualitative research whilst also encouraging and ensuring its continued development.

As discussions on designing qualitative studies are both rare and important, The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research Design is a valuable contribution, especially for those of us who still grapple, not only with how to generate empirical material but also with issues on which participants, situations, and precise methods we use. Do we need cases, comparisons, snapshots, longitudinal or retrospective studies? If the ideal design is not possible for our research aims, how do we use our creativity in making do with what is achievable? With its many perspectives and a myriad of methods, this volume will become a rich and essential resource for both researchers and students.

Qualitative research design is a difficult issue, since the idea of a meticulously planned and tailored research plan seems to run counter basic ideas of openness and flexibility which form hallmarks of qualitative research. Researchers interested in competent advice regarding the development of qualitative research designs thus could only draw on a limited number of older monographs and articles until most recently. Consequently, this new Handbook fills an important gap: with contributions from experienced researchers from a wide range of disciplines and local areas, it addresses design issues from various angles - for specific qualitative and mixed methods, specific data, online research, disciplinary contexts and epistemological perspectives.