This is the ideal book to get you up and running with the basics of qualitative data analysis. It breaks everything down into a series of simple steps and introduces the practical tools and techniques you need to turn your transcripts into meaningful research.

Using multidisciplinary data from interviews and focus groups Jamie Harding provides clear guidance on how to apply key research skills such as making summaries, identifying similarities, drawing comparisons and using codes. 

The book sets out real world applicable advice, provides easy to follow best practice and helps you to:

·        Manage and sort your data

·        Find your argument and define your conclusions

·        Answer your research question

·        Write up your research for assessment and dissemination

Clear, pragmatic and honest this book will give you the perfect framework to start understanding your qualitative data and to finish your research project.

"The author uses nice examples from his own work to demonstrate how and why to apply his tips and principles. This is particularly useful in demonstrating coding in section three.
 [...]
this is a useful and readable book on the practicalities of conducting a qualitative research project, and one to which I will certainly return for reference" - SRA Research Matters

"It′s main premise is that, to really get under the skin of a research issue, the research needs to look much deeper into the ′psycho-biography′ of research participants. This mapping of people′s psycho-biography determines people′s personal identity -- their motives, personal style, and how they behave 
[...]
Layder criticizes most research projects as being too one dimensional and simplistic. Investigative research is a largely exploratory methods of research. It encourages researchers to map the relevant psycho-biographies of individuals to formulate an initial ′conceptual scaffold′ that is the basis for the explanation of the social behaviour under investigation. This guides and directs data collection processes.  But Layder also advises being open to new concepts and encourages researchers to keep researching to test and/or revise theories and hypotheses" - SRA Research Matters