Summary

Based on worked-through examples and student exercises, David Silverman′s critical text spans the range of different approaches within the qualitative tradition. The author considers the relations between qualitative and quantitative methods in social research and the strengths of specific methodologies.

In particular, the book focuses on: issues of observation, analysis and validity in qualitative research; the theoretical underpinnings, methodological consequences and practical applicability of major traditions of qualitative research, including ethnography, symbolic interactionism, conversation analysis and ethnomethodology; the centrality of language as the medium of communication of the subjects of qualitative research, and the ways in which such communication can be studied - through the analysis of interviews, texts and transcripts.