SAGE previously. Google Scholar now. 

For introductory coverage of qualitative research, I like Marshall and Rallis's textbook. For more advanced research, I don't think there is any one authoritative source, especially with regard to data collection and analysis. In particular, the Sage Handbook by Denzin and Lincoln has rather little coverage of practical issues such as data collection and analysis.

Instead, there is a Sage handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis edited by Uwe Flick and a forthcoming matching volume on Qualitative Data Collection, but these sources basically give you a chapter apiece on different methods.

I'm probably a bit bias (a tongue-in-cheek understatement) - but it's Elsevier - Mosby for me. The attached chapters may illustrate from the 2013 edition (and the latest 2016 - 5th edition is now out) - but I have spent several years co-crafting the product that, I think, serve the needs well of clinical students in Australia!!

For me I always use Bryman - Social Research Methods, Sparkes and Smith - Qualitative research methods in sport exercise and health. Silverman doing qualitative research. And as a grounded theorist, any of the Strauss and Corbin, Corbin & Syrauss texts.  I guess it will depend on the area that you are researching. One of the most useful books I have read in relation to working out the epistemology, theoretical perspective, methodology and methods process was Crotty 1998.

MILES, Matthew B.; HUBERMAN, A. Michael. Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook. Sage, 1994.

Merriam, Sharan B. Qualitative research in practice: Examples for discussion and analysis. Jossey-Bass Inc Pub, 2002.

Ryan, Bob, Robert William Scapens, and Michael Theobald. "Research method and methodology in finance and accounting." (2002).

SAUNDERS, Mark NK. Research methods for business students, 5/e. Pearson Education India, 2011.

Dear Elizabeth

If I have to choose my 3 favorite sources:

1) The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research (Denzin & Lincoln, Eds.)

2) The Discovery of Grounded Theory (Glaser & Strauss)

3) The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis (Flick, Ed.)

Check out Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln's Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research.

I like Jorge's list above. I say it also depends on what qual methods. The Lofland and Lofland books (there are quite a few editions with various authors) are good overall. For more field work or ethnography stuff by Robert Emerson and colleagues. The blue Sage books are so good and practical. For interviews, Robert Weiss's Learning from Strangers is really, really good. I haven't seen better. Of course Charmaz for grounded theory. So tough to pick that one book that does it, but the huge Denzin and Lincoln would likely be the closest. Oh, and then there are books just on case studies that are very good.

Here are few excellent authors, Birks and Mills, Joseph Maxwell, John Creswell, Kathy Charmaz.

All the best.

I have some e-books (textbooks, references...) about qualitative research and analysis.

If you want to read them, I can share via email.

My email address: [email protected]

Best regards,

Hiep

Bryman "Social Research Methods"

Silverman "Interpreting Qualitative Data"

Miles & Guberman "Qualitative Data Analysis"

The following books and papers may help:  

• Chenail, R. J. (1995) Presenting Qualitative Data, The Qualitative Report, 2, 3, pp. 1-8.
• Creswell, J. W. (2008) Education Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, Third Edn, Person Education Inc., New Jersey.
• Creswell, J. W. (2009) Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches, Third Edn, SAGE Publications Inc., London.
• Lee, R. M. and Fielding, N. G., (2004) Tools for Qualitative Data Analysis, in Hardy, M. and Bryman, A. (Eds.), Handbook of Data Analysis, SAGE Publications, London,  pp. 529-546.
• Marshall, C. and Rossman, G. B. (1999) Designing Qualitative Research, 3rd Edn, Sage Publications, Inc., London.
• Sandelowski, M. (1998) Writing A Good Read: Strategies for Re-Presenting Qualitative Data, Research in Nursing & Health, 21, 4, pp. 375-382.
• Westbrook, L. (1994) Qualitative Research Methods: A Review of Major Stages, Data Analysis Techniques, and Quality Controls, Library and Information Science Research, 16, 3, pp. 241-254.
• Yin, R. K. (2011) Qualitative Research from Start to Finish, The Guilford Press, New York: USA. 

Yin, R. (2016) Qualitative Research:  from start to finish

Creswell, J.W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Sage: New York.

 Others Bryman, Welcott and Silverman are already listed by other scholars

Handbook of Qualitative Research by Denzin and Lincoln (4th ed.)

Qualitative Research in Psychology by Camic, Rhodes, and Yardley (2003).

Five Ways of Doing Qualitative Analysis by Wertz, Charmaz, McMullen, Josselson, Anderson, and McSpadden (2011).

Qualitative Psychology: Introducing Radical Research by Parker (2005).  

One of my favorites is Uwe Flick's Sage Handbook. Very nice to read is Silverman's small booklet A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book About Qualitative Research which makes kind of contrast to all the handbooks and triggers methodological thinking in an historical prospect..

I have used guidance from the book "Business research method " 

Bryman, A., & Bell, E. (2015). Business research methods. Oxford University Press, USA.

I am biased as I am an Associate Editor but I find the journal Qualitative Research and Practice very helpful as it foregrounds a broad range of qualitative methodologies and topics. It has a strong focus on ethical research and participatory approaches.

 O'Leary, Z 2005 "Researching real life problems, a guide to methods of inquiry."

a good book especially for beginners in research.

Creswell J 2013, Qualitative inquiry and research design, choosing among five approaches 3rd edition Sage publications

Patton M Q 2002, Two decades of developments in qualitative inquiry, a personal experiential perspective. Qualitative social work   Vol 1 no 3 Sage publications

Yes these are good, in terms of the journal I cite above, although it is a social work journal the research it covers has a broad remit.

Journal of Qualitative Research.

Denzin and Lincoln are excellent, also Bryman. Creswell covers mixed approaches. Hesse-Biber is good for Feminist Research.

THIRD EDITION

Matthew B. Miles

A. Michael Huberman

Johnny Saldana - Arizona State University

The authoritative text for displaying qualitative research data

I appreciate Denzin and Lincoln's many volumes, but for a more indigenous centred approach I think Chilisa's (2011) "Indigenous Reserach Methodologies" is well-rounded and practical. 

John Creswell's Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches is a good place to start. Relating to case studies specifically, I find Case Study Research: Design and Methods by Robert YIn quite useful too.

I think this question is one that demonstrates the problem with teaching qualitative research methods (QRM). You see, QRM is a categorical term for various methods, all of which have different underlying approaches to knowledge and uncovering it (i.e., epistemology and methodology).

I would recommend abandoning this question for a more specific one (i.e., What is your favorite authoritative source on any specific qualitative research and analysis?). For instance, when doing phenomenological research, I would go to Giorgi (2009) or Moustakas (1994), or for IPA Smith et al. (2009). However, for narrative research, I would go to Riessman (2008), or Clandinin (2013). For ethnography I would go elsewhere entirely (e.g., Atkinson & Hammersley, 2007), as I would for focus groups (e.g., Krueger & Casey, 2014; Morgan, 1997), or discourse analyses (which too may be further specified: conversation, critical, discursive psychology). You get the idea.

That said, the more general literature on QRM (e.g., Tracy, 2013; Yin, 2011) are very useful as an entry point to the various methodologies - but preferably not as an authority (or sole point of reference). I would like to say, before I conclude, that I would like to see teachers teaching their students to seek out the more specific literature, and strive to understand the nuances prior to data collection. 

Hope this helps.

Cobi.

I agree Cobi - understanding the nuances at the time of research design is important including identifying the key research questions to be answered.

I'm discovering that many qualitative approaches have more in common than I originally thought. However, I should rush to say that my knowledge of qualitative research is mostly limited to Grounded Theory, Phenomenology, and more basic methods such as thematic analysis and general inductive approach. For most approaches I'm familiar with, it is a question of gathering data (which can be done in numerous ways in most approaches), coding, and then building on the codes to reach a more general idea of what's going on. Also, I believe that often, no approach matches exactly what you want to do or how you think the data should be organized, and the method has to be tailored specifically to that study. My fear with adhering to any one specific approach is that I will force the data into predefined strains, because that is what the method prescribes. Therefore, I'm thinking that one can come a long way with more general approaches. My two current favorites are Maxwell ("Qualitative research design") and Miles, Huberman and Saldana ("Displaying qualitative data").

For those who are not familiar with these sources, Maxwell addresses issues such as the need for planning your entire study before launching it (although plans of course may be discarded), and seeing what you want to study in combination with what data collection methods you should use, what analysis you should use, and what validity threats you might expect to arise. These are issues that are important to any qualitative study, and, as far as I can see, are often neglected in sources that adhere to one single qualitative approach (such as Grounded Theory, Phenomenology, etc). 

Miles and colleagues give specific, hands-on advice on coding, and both early stage and later stage analysis, with special emphasis on the use of displays to analyze your data. These too, I believe, are skills that one needs in almost any approach and which rarely is described in such detail. 

Because I am still a very unexperienced qualitative researcher (I'm currently working on my PhD), I appreciate advice from those who are more experienced. How does a study benefit from adhering to one specific approach? How do you believe a study is compromised by being more eclectic and relying mostly on sources such as the ones described above?

Hello - I think as a new researcher you need to read as much as possible the research on your topic so you can reflect on the methodology including the authenticity of the methods employed. 

I find that reviewers and editors tend to have their specific favorites, and the sources I use to support my methodology (particularly for case studies and in-depth interviews) are sometimes ignored or not well-received. Thus, I wondered if there was any consensus on who the authorities are when it comes to these methods, and it appears, as I suspected, that there is little consensus.

Your original question left things very open, so it is not surprising that you got such a wide range of responses.

But if you had asked specifically about case studies and in-depth interviews, I suspect you would heard more consensus. For example, on case studies I think there is widespread agreement that Stake and Yin are two of the best sources.

Yes I agree with these comments, and that is why I suggested that focusing on the topic and key research questions are an important part of considering methodology.

For those who work on Qualitative Content Analysis I would suggest:

1. Margrit Schreir; Qualitative Content Analysis in Practice, SAGE Publication

Good Luck.

The Sage Handbook by Denzin & Lincoln is great and I still like the Miles & Huberman Qualitative Analysis handbook. A more recent text that I like is Johnny Saldana's Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers - very good.

I prefer Domain Analysis (analysis of language of people in a cultural context) James

Spradley.

Different kinds of domains: Folk domains, mixed domains,analytic domains.