Book reviews: The Sage qualitative research kit: Analyzing qualitative data
| Author | Brent Turner |
| DOI | 10.1177/1035719X19827672 |
| Published date | 01 March 2019 |
| Date | 01 March 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
56 Evaluation Journal of Australasia 19(1)
career paths or are not regularly writing research proposals. Much of the content
could smoothly be applied to developing evaluation proposals that are persuasive
and engaging enough to generate strong stakeholder/commissioner buy-in.
Graham Gibbs, The Sage qualitative research kit: Analyzing qualitative data. Thousand Oaks, CA:
SAGE, 2007. ISBN 9780761949800 and 9781849208574, pp. 210.
US$60.00 pbk.
Reviewed by: Brent Turner, Office of Industrial Relations, Australia
Graham Gibbs has a first degree in maths and worked in computing before completing
a master’s in Philosophy and a postgraduate diploma in Sociology and Social
Anthropology. He joined the University of Huddersfield in 1979 and his interests
include computer-assisted learning and the use of computers in the social sciences.
He has published on the sociology of the state and computer-assisted learning. He
was director of the coMentor research project, which developed software to support
the teaching of social theory and philosophy, and of several linked computer-assisted
learning projects. He has written another book on a related topic, Qualitative Data
Analysis: Explorations with NVivo, for the Open University Press and a third is on
its way.
This title forms part of the 10-volume The Sage Qualitative Research Kit, edited by
Uwe Flick, which provides a comprehensive introduction to qualitative research. This
book can be used in conjunction with other titles in the Kit but can equally be used on
its own.
Analyzing Qualitative Data outlines how to select the most appropriate tool for
analysis and provides the reader with an awareness of the various challenges that
are unique to interpreting the conceptual and subjective data generated in qualita-
tive research. Gibbs covers preparation of data, coding and categorising, analysing
biographies and narratives and discusses the use of computer-assisted qualitative
data analysis over 10 chapters, capped by a comprehensive glossary, references
and index.
Chapter 1 – The Nature of Qualitative Analysis, introduces qualitative analysis and
some of the practical issues that make it distinctive, including the importance of ethics
due to the individual and personal nature of the data that may be involved.
Chapter 2 – Data Preparation, focuses on the role of transcription – creating typed
versions of handwritten notes, audio or video recordings.
Chapter 3 – Writing, describes the three kinds of written output that are commonly
used in qualitative analysis, the research diary, field notes and memos, and how these
may be incorporated into the final write-up of the work.
Chapter 4—Thematic Coding and Categorizing, introduces the central role of
coding in qualitative analysis. A key message this author got from the chapter was
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