MA Social Research

Some suggested preliminary reading

Alasuutari, P, 1995, Researching Culture, London: Sage

Coffey, A, & Atkinson, P, 1996, Making Sense of Qualitative Data, London: Sage

Cresswell, J, Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches, Sage Publications

Gubrium, J, & Holstein, P, 1997, The New Language of Qualitative Method, New York: OUP

Gunaratnam, Y, and Oliviere, D, (eds), 2009, Narrative and Stories in Health Care: Illness, Dying and Bereavement, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Hakim, C, 2000, Research Design, London: Routledge

Hammersley, M, & Atkinson, P, 1995, Ethnography: Principles in Practice, Routledge

Marsh, C, 1982, The Survey Methods: The Contribution of Surveys to Sociological Explanation, (Chapters 2-3), London: Allen & Unwin

Seale, C, 1999, The Quality of Qualitative Research, London: Sage

Silverman, D, 2001, Interpreting Qualitative Data: Methods for the Analysis of Talk, Text and Interaction , London: Sage (2nd edn; the 1st edn (1993) is also good)

The Sage Series called Qualitative Research Methods offers short treatments of a number of relevant topics (eg validity and reliability, politics and ethics of fieldwork, gender issues in field research, focus groups etc).

For those interested in the more innovative:

Lury, C, & Wakeford, N, 2011, 'Inventive Methods: The Happening of the Social', Routledge (this is due
out in January and seems to be in hardback; copies should be available in the library)

Latour, B, 2007, Reassembling the Social: An introduction to Actor Network Theory, Oxford University Pres

Law, J, & Mol, A, 2002, Complexities: Social Studies of Knowledge Practices, Duke University Press

Background Reading

Students lacking a recent acquaintance with the basics of qualitative research and/or sociology should consult:

• Seale, C, 2004, Researching Society and Culture, London: Sage
• Bryman, A, 2008, Social Research Methods, Oxford: OUP
• Oswell, D, 2006, Culture and Society: An Introduction to Cultural Studies, Sage Publications