Accessible, practical, and packed with indispensable advice, this bestselling textbook is the perfect hands-on guide for any student embarking on their own research. With expert advice from the author and real-life experiences from students, this book shows you how to go from the ideas of research to the practicalities of designing, conducting, and writing about your research yourself. What's new in this edition: * Fully interactive digital field guide including video tutorials and real data to practice with * An improved structure that takes you step-by-step form start to finish * An overview and practical guidance on mixed methods and working with different kinds of data The free digital field guide secures its place as the `take this everywhere' textbook that supports students both in the classroom and in the field providing access via tablet/phone/laptop for easy access to: - A readymade bibliography of qualitative research contained in SAGE journal articles curated by the author, to enrich reading and offer top research articles to cite; - Definitions to explain key concepts and methods to deepen understanding of what is discussed in the text; - David's quick, practical video tips and instructional guidance for when students are in the field (or preparing to go into it). David steps in as an instant supervisor to give encouragement and avoid common pitfalls; - A treasure chest of online resources and weblinks chosen by David offering expert guidance on how to do research and do it better. These include research websites and resources as well as insider guides from trusted experts, links to organizations/software, online text/articles; - Datasets provide students with research data on which to practice organizing, analysing, and drawing conclusions; -'Cheat sheets' and reflective trackers students can use to monitor their progress and plan and manage projects.

Author Biography

David Silverman is Visiting Professor in the Business School, University of Technology, Sydney, Emeritus Professor in the Sociology Department, Goldsmiths' College and Adjunct Professor in the School of Education, Queensland University of Technology. He has lived in London for most of his life, where he attended Christ's College Finchley and did a BSc (Economics) at the London School of Economics in the 1960s. Afterwards, he went to the USA for graduate work, obtaining an MA in the Sociology Department, University of California, Los Angeles. He returned to LSE to write a PhD on organization theory. This was published as The Theory of Organizations in 1970. Apart from brief spells teaching at UCLA, his main teaching career was at Goldsmiths College. His three major research projects were on decision making in the Personnel Department of the Greater London Council (Organizational Work, written with Jill Jones, 1975), paediatric outpatient clinics (Communication and Medical Practice, 1987) and HIV-test counselling (Discourses of Counselling, 1997). He pioneered a taught MA in Qualitative Research at Goldsmiths in 1985 and supervised around 30 successful PhD students. Since becoming Emeritus Professor in 1999, he has continued publishing methodology books. David regularly runs qualitative research workshops for five universities in Sydney and Brisbane. He has also run workshops for research students in Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, France, Sri Lanka and Tanzania. Since 2000, he has done voluntary work with people with dementia. resident in an old people's home Besides all this, David's other interests include classical music, literary fiction, bridge, county cricket and spending time with his grandchildren.