Aksel Tjora is Professor in the Department of Sociology and Political Science at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). His current research is on social interaction and communal processes in relation to organizations, culture, public space, and communication technologies.
This book offers a refreshing and reinvigorating take on qualitative research as a creative and adaptive exercise rather than a formulaic activity. Tjora's approach challenges many of the entrenched practices and assumptions of contemporary qualitative research practice, and in line with his previous work, his approach is to challenge the status quo, as well as offer a realist, in-depth and usable approach to qualitative practice. This book is insightful, nuanced but pragmatic and practical, and will thus resonate across academic levels (students to academics) and a wide range of academic disciplines interested in best practice in qualitative enquiry. Alex Broom, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. A highly insightful introduction to qualitative research that addresses the challenges of data generation and analysis and powerfully demonstrates the importance of curiosity, creativity and methodological flexibility in undertaking interpretative research. Christian Heath, King's College London, UK. A corrective to the misunderstood nature of Grounded Theory, Tjora offers novel ideas on how to generate superior qualitative data. In addition, the book can be used as a primer for novice researchers to learn about observations, interviews, documents, and analysis/coding. Peter Adler, University of Denver (Emeritus), USA.