The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research Design

Uwe Flick is Senior Professor of Qualitative Research in Social Science and Education at the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. He is a trained psychologist and sociologist and received his PhD from the Freie Universität Berlin in 1988 and his Habilitation from the Technical University of Berlin in 1994. He has been Professor of Qualitative Research at Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences in Berlin, Germany and at the University of Vienna, Austria. Previously, he was Adjunct Professor at the Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s, Canada; a Lecturer in research methodology at the Freie Universität Berlin; a Reader and Assistant Professor in qualitative methods and evaluation at the Technical University of Berlin; and Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Medical Sociology at the Hannover Medical School. He has held visiting appointments at the London School of Economics, the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris, at Cambridge University (UK), University of Lisbon (Portugal), Institute of Higher Studies in Vienna, in Italy and Sweden, and at the School of Psychology at Massey University, Auckland (New Zealand). His main research interests are qualitative methods, social representations in the fields of individual and public health, chronical illness and vulnerability in fields like youth homelessness, peer relations or migration, and technological change in everyday life. He is the author of Introducing Research Methodology: A Beginner’s Guide to Doing a Research Project (4th edn, London: Sage: 2025) and editor of A Companion to Qualitative Research (London: Sage, 2004) and The Psychology of the Social (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998). As his most recent publications, he has written Designing Qualitative Research (2nd edn, London: Sage, 2018), Doing Grounded Theory (London: Sage, 2018), Doing Triangulation and Mixed Methods (London: Sage, 2018), and Managing Quality in Qualitative Research (2nd edn, London: Sage, 2018) and Doing Interview Research – The Essential How To Guide (London: Sage, 2022). He edited The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis (London: Sage, 2014), The SAGE Qualitative Research Kit (2nd edn, London: Sage, 2018), The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Collection (London: Sage, 2018) and The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research Design (London: Sage, 2022) and The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research Quality (London: Sage, 2025).

This Handbook will prove invaluable to all researchers specialising in qualitative research in its many forms. An extraordinarily rich combination of authors and approaches, it provides timely consideration of multiple angles of research design. It is an exciting, insightful and important collection, offering both a highly contemporary reflection on qualitative research whilst also encouraging and ensuring its continued development.

• Volume 1: Basics of Designing Qualitative Research: Concepts, Theories, and ElementsChapter 1: Setting the Agenda - Roles of Design(ing) in Qualitative Research - Uwe FlickPart 1: Concepts of Designing Designs in Qualitative ResearchPart 1 Introduction - Uwe FlickChapter 2: Reflexive Design in Qualitative Research - Mats Alvesson, Jörgen Sandberg, and Katja EinolaChapter 3: Interactive Approaches to Qualitative Research Design - Joseph A. MaxwellChapter 4: Emergent Design - Martyn HammersleyChapter 5: Choosing a Research Design for Qualitative Research - A Ferris Wheel of Approaches - Karen M. Staller & Yun ChenPart 2: Theories and Epistemological Contexts of Designing Qualitative ResearchPart 2 Introduction - Uwe FlickChapter 6: Constructionism and Qualitative Research Design - Jonathan Potter & Jessica RoblesChapter 7: Phenomenology: Alfred Schutz’s Structures of the Life-world and their Implications - Thomas S. EberleChapter 8: Care-ful Research: Sensibilities from STS - John Law & Wen-yuan LinChapter 9: Critical Realism as a Stance for Designing Qualitative Research - Joseph A. MaxwellChapter 10: Ontologies of Relation and Difference in "Research designs" - Mirka Koro, David Lee Carlson, Marina Basu, & Keti Tsotniashuili Chapter 11: Feminist Research: Inequality, Social Change and Intersectionality - Alexandra J Hawkey & Jane M UssherChapter 12: Queer(ing) Methodologies - Tommaso M. Milani & Rodrigo BorbaChapter 13: Decolonising Qualitative Research Design - Helen Moewaka Barnes & Tim McCreanorChapter 14: Qualitative Research within a Post-colonial Indigenous Paradigm - Bagele Chilisa & Keneilwe PhatshwanePart 3: Elements of Designing Qualitative ResearchPart 3 Introduction - Uwe FlickChapter 15: Abduction as a Guiding Principle in Qualitative Research Design - Robert ThornbergChapter 16: Developing Research Questions: The Social Lives of Ideas, Interests and Questions - Tim RapleyChapter 17: Selecting a Sample - Michael Meyer & Wolfgang MayrhoferChapter 18: Creative with Resources in Qualitative Research - Amarante SwiftChapter 19: Role and Impact of CAQDAS Software for Designs in Qualitative Research - Susanne FrieseChapter 20: Generalization as an Issue for Qualitative Research Design - Joseph A. MaxwellChapter 21: The Impact of Funding on Ways Qualitative Research is Thought About and Designed - Julianne CheekChapter 22: Ethical Entanglements: Conceptualizing "Research Purposes/Design In the Contemporary Political World" - Gaile S. CannellaChapter 23: The Fallacy of Rigor: Examining Checklist Criteria as an Indicator of Quality - Janice M. MorsePart 4: Basic Designs and Research Strategies in Qualitative ResearchPart 4 Introduction - Uwe FlickChapter 24: Designing Case Studies - Malcolm TightChapter 25: Qualitative Longitudinal Design: Time, Change, Interpretive Practices - Karen Henwood & Fiona ShiraniChapter 26: Qualitative Research Design across Different Cultural Communities - Carolin Demuth & Alessandra FasuloChapter 27: Designing Grounded Theory Studies - Robert Thornberg & Elaine KeaneChapter 28: Designing Ethnographies - Marie BuscattoChapter 29: Designing Research for Naturally Occurring Data - Jonathan Potter & Alexa HepburnChapter 30: Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis - Elliott M. HoeyChapter 31: Arts-based Research in the Social Sciences - Briege Casey & Michael MurrayChapter 32: Secondary Qualitative Data Analysis - Louise CortiChapter 33: Meta-analysis in Qualitative Research: A Descriptive-Interpretative Approach - Ladislav Timulak & Mary CreanerPart 5: Mixing Methods in Designing Qualitative ResearchPart 5 Introduction - Uwe FlickChapter 34: Pluralisms in Qualitative Research Design - Kerry ChamberlainChapter 35: Psychosocial Methodologies - David W. JonesChapter 36: Designing for Multimodal Data and Mixed Methods within a Qualitative Framework - Pat BazeleyChapter 37: Mixed Methods Research Designs in Qualitatively-driven Research - Sharlene Hesse-BiberChapter 38: The Power of Qualitative Research in Mixed Methods Research Designs - Julianne Cheek & Janice M. MorseChapter 39: Revitalizing Triangulation as a Framework for Designing Multi-perspective Qualitative Research - Uwe FlickVolume 2: Practices of Designing Qualitative Research: Data, Fields and ImpactPart 6: Designing Qualitative Research for Specific Kinds of DataPart 6 Introduction - Uwe FlickChapter 40: Designing Qualitative Research Using Interview Data - Kathryn Roulston & Sean N. HalpinChapter 41: Designing Focus Groups - Sabine Caillaud, Nikos Kalampalikis, & Marjolaine Doumergue Chapter 42: Designing for Narratives and Stories - Asta Rau & Jan K. CoetzeeChapter 43: Designing for Observation - David WästerforsChapter 44: Designing Qualitative Research for Working with Visual Data: Insights from Psychology - Katherine Johnson & Paula ReaveyChapter 45: Working with Video Data - Lorenza MondadaChapter 46: Designing for the Ethnographic Study of Documents - Katarina JacobssonChapter 47: Designing Qualitative Research Using ′Material Methods′ - Researching with Objects/Things - Sophie WoodwardChapter 48: A Language-First Approach to Health Research; Sociolinguistic Ethnography in Hospital Settings - Polina Mesinioti, Jo Angouri, & Chris TurnerPart 7: Designing Qualitative Online and Multimodal ResearchPart 7 Introduction - Uwe FlickChapter 49: Designing Qualitative Research Using online Newspaper Comments - JoAnne Meredith, Emma Richardson, Alexandra Kent, & K.M. BuddsChapter 50: Digital and no Digital: Researching Digital Practices as Trans-situated Activities in Everyday Later Life - Roser Beneito-MontagutChapter 51: Designing Qualitative Research for Working with Facebook Data - Uta RussmannChapter 52: A Facebook Discourse-oriented Ethnography of Greek Jewish Heritage - Salomi Boukala & Dimitris SerafisChapter 53: Designing Qualitative Discourse Analysis Research with Twitter - Samuel BennettChapter 54: Designing Qualitative Research for Working with Blogs as Data - Elena Wilson & Nicole JohnsonChapter 55: Designing Qualitative Research with Instagram - Kerry Chamberlain & Meghan LynchChapter 56: Designing Qualitative Research for Working with Social Media ′Big′ Datasets - Mike ThelwallPart 8: Designing Qualitative Research for Specific Groups and AreasPart 8 Introduction - Uwe FlickChapter 57: Designing Qualitative Research with the Elderly - Irina Catrinel CraciumChapter 58: Designing Qualitative Research with Children - Bronwyn DaviesChapter 59: Physical Culture and Embodied Ethnography - Michael D. Giardina & Michele K. DonnellyChapter 60: Challenges in Designing Qualitative Research when Working with and for Hard-to-Reach Groups - Kerry Chamberlain & Darrin HodgettsChapter 61: Intersecting Identities in Health Care Research - Jo Angouri, Polina Mesinioti, Rumaisa Banatwalla, & Georgios K DimitriadisChapter 62: Researching Institutions after the Discursive Turn - Amelie Kutter & Federico MassonChapter 63: Designing Qualitative Research for Studies in Asia: Decentering Research Practices for Local Norms of Relevance - John L. AdamsonChapter 64: Designing Qualitative Research for Studies in Latin America - Nicolás Schöngut-Grollmus & María-Alejandra EnergiciPart 9: Designing Qualitative Research in Disciplinary FieldsPart 9 Introduction - Uwe FlickChapter 65: Designing Qualitative Research for Studies in Education - Massimiliano TarozziChapter 66: Designing Qualitative Social Work Research - Jane F. GilgunChapter 67: Designing Qualitative Research in Psychology - Sarah Riley & Kerry ChamberlainChapter 68: Unpacking Nursing′s Epistemological Foundations as a Basis for Applied Qualitative Design - Sally ThorneChapter 69: Designing Qualitative Research for Disability Rights Approaches - Hilary Stace, Kirsten Smiler, and Martin SullivanPart 10: Designing Qualitative Research for ImpactPart 10 Introduction - Uwe FlickChapter 70: Impact-Driven Qualitative Research and Evaluation - Michael PattonChapter 71: Reclaiming Qualitative Design for the Applied Disciplines - Sally ThorneChapter 72: Designing Qualitative and Mixed Methods Evaluations for Transformative Impact - Donna M. MertensChapter 73: Designing Indigenous Qualitative Research for Policy Implementation - Fiona CramChapter 74: Diversity, Ethics, and Transparency as Continuing Challenges in Designing Qualitative Research - Uwe Flick