Doing Qualitative Research in Psychology

Cath Sullivan (CPsychol, SFHEA) is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Lancashire, UK. She has taught qualitative research methods and supported other lecturers in teaching qualitative methods for over twenty years. Cath is a former Chair of the HEA’s Special Interest Group on the Teaching of Qualitative Methods at Undergraduate Level and was on the committee of the Qualitative Methods in Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society for 10 years. Her published work includes qualitative research papers and pieces about qualitative methodology. She is joint editor of Doing Your Qualitative Psychology Project (Sage, 2023).Sarah Riley is a Professor of Critical Health Psychology, at Massey University, Aotearoa New Zealand. She has a long history of teaching qualitative research methods and supervising undergraduate and postgraduate students using these methods in their research projects.  She has published widely, including on qualitative methods, and is a former chair of the Qualitative Methods in Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society and International Society for Critical Health Psychology. With Cath Sullivan, she co-edited Doing Your Qualitative Psychology Project (Sage, 2023) and also led a team at Massey to create the first open-access textbook in critical health psychology, Critical Health Psychology: Foundations, Approaches and Applications (2025) available on Pressbooks). She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, supporting other academics in their teaching journey, and in 2024 was awarded the Vice Chancellor Teaching Excellence Award at her University.

• Part I: Doing designChapter 1: Introducing qualitative methods in psychology - Jo Brooks & Simon GoodmanChapter 2: Theory and method in qualitative psychology - Cath SullivanChapter 3: Research ethics in qualitative research - Nigel King & Cath SullivanChapter 4: Quality in qualitative research - Nollaig Frost, Deborah Bailey-Rodriguez, & Frauke ElichoaffChapter 5: Conducting literature reviews - Cassandra Screti, Gemma Heath & Rachel ShawPart II: Doing data collectionChapter 6: The interview in qualitative research - Nigel King & Siobhan Hugh-JonesChapter 7: The focus group in qualitative research - Craig Owen, Christine Campbell & Emily McKendrick Chapter 8: Beyond interviews and focus groups: Alternative approaches to data collection - Stephen Gibson & Sarah RileyChapter 9: Introducing our data sets - Stephen Gibson, Cath Sullivan & Craig OwenPart III: Doing data analysis: Practical examplesChapter 10: Thematic analysis - Leanne Etheridge & Cath SullivanChapter 11: Interpretative phenomenological analysis - William Day and Rachel ShawChapter 12: Narrative analysis - Deborah Rodriguez, Nollaig Frost & Frauke ElichoaffChapter 13: Discourse analysis - Sarah Riley Chapter 14: Discursive psychology - Sally WigginsChapter 15: Grounded theory - Alasdair Gordon-Finlayson