Qualitative Research in Communication Disorders: An introduction for students and clinicians

Qualitative research provides an excellent method for listening to the voices of people with communication disability who are often excluded from traditional research pathways. It is also useful when exploring client preference, clinician expertise and ways in which clinicians implement evidence-based practice. However, people beginning to use qualitative research methods are faced with a number of different approaches and different terms for what seem like similar concepts, and are often unclear about how to actually implement the methods.

Qualitative Research in Communication Disorders is a step-by-step guide written specifically for student clinicians/researchers who are beginning to use this important research methodology. It is eminently practical with contributions from international researchers who have used and published qualitative research in the field of communication disorders. The what, why and how of different qualitative research approaches are described (how participants were recruited and sampled, how sample size was determined, data collection methods, data analysis methods used, how rigour was ensured, ethical issues, etc.) with worked examples illustrating the text.