Qualitative Data Analysis Using a Dialogical Approach

by Paul Sullivan

In this important new text, Paul Sullivan introduces readers to a qualitative methodology rooted in the analysis of dialogue and the dialogical approach. Sullivan unpacks the theory behind a dialogical approach to qualitative research, and relates issues of philosophy and methodology to the practical process of actually doing qualitative research.



Sullivan′s book foregrounds the role of atmosphere, subjectivity and authorial reflection within texts. His work also enables the researcher to attend to the conflicts, judgments and interpretive activities that take place in language use. Practically speaking, the dialogical approach enables analysis of direct and indirect discourse, speech genres, hesitations, irony and a variety of other conditions that shape our understanding of dialogue in context.



As well as exploring the theory behind this innovative method, Sullivan provides sound practical advice that recognises the everyday analytic needs of the reader.



Topics



• The theoretical foundations of the approach



• The role of subjectivity in qualitative research



• Data preparation and analysis



• The future of the approach



Theoretical discussion is consistently accompanied by research examples and suggestions as to how the dialogical approach could be used in the reader′s own research. This important and timely book is ideal for any reader who wants to do research with dialogue and who is keen to attend to the full nuances and complexities of discourse.

208 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Paul Sullivan was born in Trenton, New Jersey, but he says: “I spent the best years of my boyhood in Tennessee. My father and I did a lot of hunting and fishing and traveling through the South. Those years, until I was about fourteen, were very free years. We camped by lakes or rivers, or went off to see what was over the next mountain. My father had a great love of travel, learning, and books, and I took them away with me. The greatest gift he gave me was a library card. I learned about Hemingway and Jack London. And today my own books are in that same town library.”

In the 1980s he traveled: to South America, Central America, Europe, Africa, and the Arctic. “I kept notes and I wrote and found Royal Fireworks Press who thought my work good enough to print. They have published six of my novels, with two more novels and a book of short stories in the pipeline.”

Paul Sullivan bases his stories and novels on places he has been, things he has seen and learned. “I try to give them some value and write books that can be read from age eight to eighty and still be enjoyed. The greatest compliment a person often gives me after reading one of my books is simply, ‘I never saw it that way,’or, ‘I learned something.’”