Karen O'Reilly

Karen O’Reilly, 2025, Qualitative Research Methods for Everyone: An Essential Toolkit Bristol: Policy Press. (Please be sure to give full citation if quoting)

“Put ethnographic methods, and creative and participatory methods, into your methods toolkit and consider their role in achieving your research aims and objectives.” (Page 23)

“..it is important to recognise the problematic nature of the language of sampling and how it can be interpreted. The notion is taken directly from natural science, where a blood or urine sample (for example) is expected to contain what is in the whole. In social science research (quantitative or qualitative) the way in which a sample or selection represents others (if at all) needs to be thought through and clarified.” (Page 27)

“I have often heard people working in applied, rather than academic settings, using the notion of a case study to mean choosing someone to represent the argument. This is, in fact, an illustrative case, in writing or dissemination, not a study.” (Page 30)

In qualitative research..  “The final sample is the people, groups, contexts, and other variables and topics that you finally included, which will reflect required relevant diversity for specific outputs.’ (Page 32)

“The role of the literature review is to locate, familiarise, sensitise, and identify gaps, not to form a fixed hypotheses. It should open your mind, not foreclose it.” (Page 40)

I hope this has inspired you to read the book.  You might also like The Qualitative Research Methods for Everyone Podcast

or wherever you get your podcasts