Qualitative Research in Action

- Jonathan Potter, Loughborough University

"This book is likely to have a broad appeal to a rising generation of qualitative researchers seeking to relate theoretical debates to methodological practice."

- Clive Seale, Goldsmiths College

This exciting new book brings together contributions from world-leading scholars as well as younger researchers and focuses on cutting-edge issues related to the practice of qualitative research in the field. It provides a forum for contributors to discuss the issues and processes

which inform qualitative research in its various forms as based on fieldwork experiences.

In achieving this in an accessible manner to both practising students and researchers, it seeks to enable a dialogue over ideas and provide the reader with a `state of the art' overview of the topic from a contemporary perspective.

Rather than being a `how to do' book, this volume should prove vitally useful for advanced students and researchers who wish to engage with those ideas and practices in terms of their applicability for an understanding and explanation of the place of qualitative research in the social sciences. It is also a forum in which leading scholars make an original contribution to the subject.

Lively and highly readable throughout, Qualitative Research in Action will be essential reading for advanced undergraduates and above in a variety of disciplines, as well as researchers who wish to engage with contemporary ideas and practices in relation to qualitative research. 

Tim May originally trained and worked as an agricultural engineer. After his PhD (1990), he was appointed to a lectureship at Plymouth (1989-95) and then moved to the University of Durham (1995-99) and was appointed at Salford in 1999. He became Director of the Centre for Sustainable Urban and Regional Futures in 2001. He is currently Professor of Social Science Methodology and Director of Research at the Sheffield Methods Institute, University of Sheffield. He has held research grants from many sources including: ESRC; EPSRC; AHRC; Mistra (Swedish Environmental Research Foundation; Regional Development Agencies; Core Cities Group; Office of the Deputy Prime Minister; Higher Education Funding Council; Local Government Management Board; Economic and Social Research Council; Manchester City Council; the CONTACT group of the four Greater Manchester Universities and the NHS.

In addition to the books and journals listed below, Tim May has contributed chapters to the following publications:

May, T. and Perry, B. 2013 'Reflexivity and Data Analysis'. In Flick, U. (ed). Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis. London: SAGE.

May, T. 2013 'Reflexivity'. In Kaldis, B. (ed). Encyclopedia of Philosophy and the Social Sciences. London: SAGE.

May, T. and Williams, M. 2010 'Commitment and Investigation in Knowing the Social World'. In Olsen, W. (ed). Realist Methodology, Volume 1: Practical Realist Ontology. London: SAGE.

May, T. and Powell, J. 2007 'Michel Foucault'. In Edwards, T. (ed). Cultural Theory: Classical and Contemporary Positions. London: SAGE.

May, T 2006 'Critical Theory'. In Booth, C. and Harrington, J (eds). Developing Business Knowledge. UWE/ SAGE.

May, T. 2005 'Reflexivity and Sociological Practice'. In Williams, M. (ed). The Philosophical Foundations of Social Research, Volume 3: Social Reality and the Social Context of Social Research. London: SAGE.

May, T. 2004 'Poststructuralism', 'Critical Theory', 'Postempiricism'. In Bryman, A., Lewis-Beck, M. and Futing Liao, T. (eds). Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE.

May, T. 2002 'The Discontented Epoch: Freedom and Security in Bauman's Postmodernity′. In Beilharz, P. (ed). Zygmunt Bauman: 4 Volumes. Volume 3, 'The Postmodern'. London: SAGE.