Practical and straightforward, this book is a multidisciplinary introduction to the process of planning, conducting and analysing qualitative research, from selecting appropriate methods to publishing your findings. Built around the authors' Qualitative Research Cycle - consisting of the design, data collection and analytic cycles - this pragmatic guide clearly demonstrates the steps you need to take to ensure your research is rigorous and robust. Drawing on decades of experience teaching workshops, the book is packed with techniques and tools to help you turn theory and method into research practice. This second edition: Showcases the importance of linking research design to data analysis, helping you avoid potential pitfalls and get the most out of your data Highlights the relevance and wide application of qualitative methods with an array of international examples of real field research and interdisciplinary case studies Gives clear guidance on writing qualitative research, including how to respond to critiques of qualitative methods Has a renewed focus on evaluating quality in qualitative research, ensuring your work is valid, reflexive and ethical Offering tried and tested research tools like interview guides that you can apply to your own projects and supported by online resources including checklists and reflective questions, this book is the perfect companion for anyone looking to complete a successful project using qualitative research methods.

While quite a lot is known about child spacing and survival chances of children, much less is known about child spacing and womens health. The book describes child spacing behaviour of women in rural Karnataka, South India, as embedded in the economic and socio-cultural context in which women live. Adopting a life course perspective, child spacing is related to other events in the reproductive career (first menstruation, marriage) and reproductive health issues such as sexuality and contraceptive use. Women marry early, have their children and then often opt for sterilization. Modern spacing methods are hardly used: women think they have negative effects on their health status which is already low. Women indicate that the most important health problems for women in the villages are related to pregnancy and delivery, white discharge and general weakness. Different cultural schemas can be identified, i.e. those of heating (ushna, kaavu) and cooling (tampu) and pollution and purity, motivating reproductive health behaviour such as during menstruation, the use of the oral pill, the treatment of white discharge. Since young married women are fully dependent upon their husbands family, the role of the mother-in-law becomes quite important. While men are thought by women to have an important influence on their reproductive health behaviour, men turn out to have hardly any knowledge about these reproductive health issues. The research has provided evidence for the formulation of a health educational campaign, called Spandana, which is a collaboration of the researchers with FPAI Dharwad. The translation of research into action is also described in this very timely volume.

Practical and straightforward, this book is a multidisciplinary introduction to the process of planning, conducting and analysing qualitative research, from selecting appropriate methods to publishing your findings. Built around the authors' Qualitative Research Cycle - consisting of the design, data collection and analytic cycles - this pragmatic guide clearly demonstrates the steps you need to take to ensure your research is rigorous and robust. Drawing on decades of experience teaching workshops, the book is packed with techniques and tools to help you turn theory and method into research practice. This second edition: Showcases the importance of linking research design to data analysis, helping you avoid potential pitfalls and get the most out of your data Highlights the relevance and wide application of qualitative methods with an array of international examples of real field research and interdisciplinary case studies Gives clear guidance on writing qualitative research, including how to respond to critiques of qualitative methods Has a renewed focus on evaluating quality in qualitative research, ensuring your work is valid, reflexive and ethical Offering tried and tested research tools like interview guides that you can apply to your own projects and supported by online resources including checklists and reflective questions, this book is the perfect companion for anyone looking to complete a successful project using qualitative research methods.