Qualitative Methods for Health Research

The Third Edition of this bestselling title is packed full of real-world advice for researchers and students. It is an invaluable introduction to the theoretical and practical essentials needed to design, conduct and appraise qualitative research in health.

The book highlights core research skills, taking the reader through the key debates in qualitative methodology. It sets out a logical, easy-to-follow path supported by practical examples ensuring you will find it engaging and relevant.

Updates for the new edition include:

- a new chapter on effectively combining methods
- new material on the practical aspects of securing access to participants, using online data and on selecting an approach for analysis
- improved material on reading and appraising literature with detailed exploration of systematic reviews and synthesis
- expanded chapters on analysing data, with practical suggestions for moving from descriptive to analytical approaches
- an effective mix of classic and contemporary case studies from across health research
- expanded summaries, key points and reflective questions designed to help students apply theory to their own research.

Clear, thorough and articulate, this is an authoritative introduction to qualitative research for all health professionals and students.

Visit the accompanying companion website for additional resources.

Judith Green is a Professor in Sociology of Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Nicki Thorogood is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

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.