Doing Your Qualitative Psychology Project

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).Stephen Gibson is Bicentennial Chair in Research Methods and Director of Doctoral Programmes in the School of Social Sciences, Heriot Watt University. He is a social psychologist with research interests in obedience and social influence, identity and citizenship, and representations of peace and conflict. In addition, he has been involved in numerous projects concerning the teaching of qualitative research methods. Between 2008 and 2011 he was chair of the TQRMUL group, and is co-editor (with Simon Mollan) of the volume Representations of Peace and Conflict (Palgrave, 2012).Sarah Riley is a Professor in Critical Health Psychology at Massey University, Aotearoa New Zealand. Her award-winning, interdisciplinary research focuses on relationships between discourse, affect, technology, and materiality. Recent co-authored books include Technologies of Sexiness (OUP USA, 2014), Postfeminism and Health (Routledge, 2019), Postfeminism and Body Image (Routledge, 2022); and Digital Feeling (Palgrave, 2023); she chaired the British Psychology Society’s Qualitative Methods in Psychology section (2017-19), and teaches qualitative research methods.

Very accessible book for students

• Chapter 1: Getting started - Cath Sullivan, Stephen Gibson and Sarah RileyChapter 2: Coming up with a research question - Sarah Riley and Kathy KinmondChapter 3: Planning your project - Cath Sullivan and Sarah Riley Chapter 4: Doing ethical research - Cath Sullivan and Sarah Riley Chapter 5: Managing your project - Sarah Riley and Nigel KingChapter 6: Doing a literature review - Jo Bryce and Michael ForresterChapter 7: Collecting your data - Stephen Gibson and Siobhan Hugh-JonesChapter 8: Analysing your data - Stephen Gibson and Siobhan Hugh-JonesChapter 9: Achieving quality in your project - Cath Sullivan, Nollaig Frost and Kathryn KinmondChapter 10: Writing up a qualitative project - Sarah RileyChapter 11: Conclusion - Cath Sullivan, Stephen Gibson and Sarah Riley