Qualitative Methods for Health Research

Judith Green has degrees in anthropology and sociology, and a PhD in the sociology of health. She has taught research methods to a wide range of students over the last 30 years, including undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral students and health professionals from nursing, medicine, public health and sociology. She is currently Professor of Sociology at the University of Exeter, and Honorary Professor, in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Sydney. She has held posts at the King’s College London, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and London South Bank University. Judith has broad substantive interests in the sociology of health and health services, and has researched and published on primary care, professional identity, accidental injury, public understanding of risk and the relationships between transport and well-being. She is currently co-editor of the Journal of Critical Public Health. Other publications include Risk and misfortune: The social construction of accidents (1997, Taylor & Francis); Critical perspectives in public health, co-edited with Ronald Labonté (2008, Routledge) and Analysing health policy: A sociological approach (1998, Longman), also co-authored with Nicki Thorogood. Nicki Thorogood’s first degree was in sociology and social anthropology, and she has a PhD in the sociology of health from the University of London. She has over 30 years’ experience of teaching undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral students and health professionals from nursing, medicine, public health and sociology She is currently Programme Director for the DrPH (Doctorate in Public Health) at LSHTM as well as supervising several research degree students. Before coming to LSHTM (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) in 1999 she held posts at Middlesex University and at Guy’s, King’s and Thomas’s School of Medicine and Dentistry (GKT). Her research interests are primarily in qualitative research into aspects of ‘identity’, e.g. ethnicity, gender, disability and sexuality and in the sociology of the body. She is also interested in the intersection of mental health with public health and health promotion. She is Series Editor, with Rosalind Plowman, of the Understanding Public Health series of textbooks published by Open University Press.

Part I: Principles and Approaches in Qualitative Health Research
Chapter 1: Qualitative Methodology in Health Research
What is qualitative research?
Qualitative research and evidence based practice
The orientations of qualitative research
Some assumptions about qualitative research
Chapter 2: The Role of Theory
Macro theory
Middle range theory
Theories of knowledge
Chapter 3: Developing Qualitative Research Proposals
Research questions
Selecting appropriate study designs
Pragmatic influences on research design
A qualitative approach to design
Writing a research proposal
Sampling strategies
Chapter 4: Responsibilities, Ethics and Values
Values in research
Ethical review and codes of practice
Informed consent
Confidentiality
Responsibilities to research participants
Ethical dilemmas and conflicts
Responsibilities to yourself and co-workers
Responsibilities to commissioners and the public
Part II: Generating Data
Chapter 5: In-depth Interviews
The research interview
A word on language
Language and translation
What interviews can and can’t do
Asking questions and listening to answers
Context and data
Planning interviews
Using visual methods in interviews
Chapter 6: Group Interviews and Discussions
An overview of different kinds of groups used in qualitative research
Consensus panels
Community interviews and participatory methods
Focus group discussions
Natural groups
Advantages of using group interviews
Naturalism
Limitations
Planning group interview studies
Chapter 7: Observational Methods
Participation and observation
Ethnography and medical anthropology
Ethnographies of medicine, health and health care
Managing fieldwork roles
Planning an ethnographic study
Rapid ethnographic methods
Using participation and observation in interviews
Non-participant observation
Chapter 8: Using Secondary Sources
Why use existing sources?
Public records
Personal documents
Mass media outputs
Research outputs
Policy reports
Material artefacts
Methodological issues in using documentary sources
Chapter 9: Qualitative Research in a Digital Age
Questions about health, health care and technology
Researching virtual sites
Recruitment on line: social media
Technology platforms as part of the context of data generation
Ethical issues in digital research
Dissemination and knowledge exchange
Part III: Managing and Analysing Data
Chapter 10: Beginning Data Analysis
Styles of analysis
Aims of analysis
Data preparation and management
Qualitative description
Thematic content analysis
Framework analysis
Reliability and validity
Computer aided qualitative analysis
Chapter 11: Developing Qualitative Analysis
Rigour is not enough
Discourse analysis
Grounded theory
Narrative analysis
Beyond talk and text
Some strategies for thinking more analytically
Generalizability and transferability
Part IV: Qualitative Research in Practice
Chapter 12: Integrating Methods, Designs and Disciplines
Rationales for mixing methods within qualitative studies
Combining qualitative and quantitative designs
Qualitative research within evaluative designs
Combining designs in practice
Developing trans-disciplinary research
Enhancing collaboration
Chapter 13: Reading, Appraising and Integrating Qualitative Research
Reading critically
Formal critical appraisal for empirical studies
Criteria in ethnography
Systematic reviews
Integrating qualitative findings
Meta-ethnography
Chapter 14: Dissemination: reaching and engaging with audiences
The writing process
Writing for different audiences
Writing for health journals
Writing for social science colleagues
Practical issues to consider when writing research reports
Dissemination from collaborative projects
Communicating with non-specialist audiences