Qualitative research practice: a guide for social science students and researchers (2nd edn)

摘要

In 1974 I started my first job in the UK Social Survey Division (SSD) of the Office of Population, Censuses and Surveys (OPCS, now part of ONS). Jane Ritchie was already there and an intellectual force to be reckoned with. SSD, as its name implies, did not do much qualitative research, but always did do elaborate pilots and took coding very seriously indeed. In 1985 Jane left OPCS and joined Social & Community Planning Research (SCPR), as it then was, now the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), to set up the Qualitative Unit. As this book makes clear, qualitative research was growing in importance in academic, social, policy and market research, but it was nowhere near as important as it is now. Jane and her colleagues at NatCen have made a huge contribution to developing the practice of qualitative research while at the same time embedding that practice in clearly articulated philosophical and sociological traditions.