`This is an elegant text on the cutting edge. David Silverman has taken the most recent developments, methodologies and interpretive strategies in qualitative research and made them immediately accessible to the student′ - Norman Denzin, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

`The Second Edition... is a fascinating book.... It includes enlightening discussions of ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, of discourse analysis and ordinary talk, as well as of what can be learned from visual (non-linguistic) materials′ - David Kalekin-Fishman, Forum for Qualitative Social Research

In this much expanded and updated Second Edition of his bestselling introductory textbook for the beginning researcher, David Silverman: takes account of the flood of qualitative work since the 1990s; includes a new chapter on Visual Images; and provides an expanded treatment of discourse analysis.

All chapters have been substantially rewritten with the aim of greater clarity and to take into account the growing interdisciplinary interest in qualitative research. To aid the student researcher the number of exercises has been increased and Key Points and Recommended Readings appear at the end of each chapter.