Qualitative research methods within the addictions

In 1998, Fountain Furst et al. (2004); and Rhodes, Davis Lambert, Ashery Agar 1986, 1996). Ethnographers depend heavily on observation and, in some cases, complete or partial integration into the society being studied. They also often conduct in-depth interviews with community members and examine materials or artefacts that are relevant to people's everyday lives. In the field of alcohol research, there is a very long tradition of ethnographic studies that have mostly been conducted by anthropologists working in remote regions of the world (SIRC 1998). For example, Lemert examined the relationship between drinking, alienation and cultural change among North-west coast Native Americans in the 1950s (Lemert 1958). More recently, Eber (2000) explored female identities, roles, relationships and sources of power in the context of women and drinking in a Mexican community. Ethnographies of illicit drug use have predominantly been conducted in the United States and one of the most often-quoted is a study of marijuana users by the sociologist, Howard Becker (1953). Becker showed how social setting or context is a significant determinant in how individuals become marijuana users, as well as why they continue or desist from its use. Other qualitative techniques (such as themed interviews, focus groups and open-ended questions inserted into quantitative surveys) are conducted during one-off contact with research subjects and have the advantage of being less time-consuming and cheaper to conduct than a full ethnographic study. Equally, their flexibility enables them to generate good-quality data on a wide range of issues from a wide range of individuals. For example, Nygaard et al. (2003) interviewed young people who had been involved in drink driving episodes about their experiences of drink driving and riding with drink drivers. Beich, Gannik 1996). More recently, et al. (2003) have conducted a rapid assessment of drug and alcohol use in This study involved analysis of data a and of problem drug aim was to the of and to for change in prevention, and the above, it is that qualitative techniques involve and one or more of just as qualitative and quantitative methods can be used two or more qualitative techniques and data sources can be used within one study to supplement and validate The main of qualitative data are interviews and A of some of the and of of these is provided by can be in For example, researchers may in from a to a complete Equally, they may take on the behaviour and of individuals in an or These can then be in the form of a an narrative or even personal of the lived experiences of users in provide an important example of the power and of of data are in or sometimes by The interview may be or and can involve one and one or be conducted in groups the be to the responses to their interviews are generally and It is the interview that are with the of (2002) a account of interview data from a study of drug using the materials can and and analysed on addiction in to explore the relationship between of and of social and (1998) used groups on the to information about into and et al. analysed data by drug in their and to explore how individuals of and the of for of the and diversity of qualitative research, it important to review why it might be it has been that quantitative methods are and for the social world (Martin & Stenner 2004). are and p. it is to understand how they and their their behaviour is to be Qualitative by the to understand drinking and drug use from of their to explore and explain qualitative methods have very valuable in drug and alcohol use and and about addiction with more information that the of substance lives. In ethnographic research has the of the drug and general of the everyday context of drug use and drinking, and the of on substance This has resulted in important and ethnographic research conducted during the 1950s and the that drug addiction was a and drug users and it showed that drug addiction was a social that to be understood and that drug users individuals who in a that just to be anthropologists have the high of alcohol associated with and that may be alcohol addiction is the with problem drinking from its more and In terms of and practice, qualitative methods employed in the in to the to and to drug use. This was in of the that to be on an of the complex behaviours and social involved in drug taking 1998). qualitative techniques used to examine and especially the social and cultural of needle McKeganey & The data from work then used to the of services. Qualitative research has also been to the on drug treatment and its by exploring views and experiences of Here, the use of qualitative methods is by the that treatment is most to be individuals about and with the that they For example, (1998) investigated drug of drug and examined the drug users to In the alcohol et al. used questions and to generate qualitative on and experiences of and general for drinking conducted focus groups to explore views and experiences of alcohol and brief intervention in Further to the above, qualitative studies have been in or The of much the social associated with substance that addiction research often 1995). Qualitative techniques (such as or where are and the addiction of and Equally, of and during can qualitative researchers to the complex social that substance users and their together. In qualitative researchers have developed techniques to the for in their For example, is a that the of from (2000) for a full As qualitative research is also important in in drug to et al. sources of data used to in patterns of drug abuse typically a number of In contrast, ethnographic research can and and drug-using groups as well as and for is that qualitative researchers are encouraged to where the data them & qualitative data can the of social to which events to which (Miles & Huberman 1994). Addiction researchers in recent years, by using qualitative methods to explore both the in drug among young people as well as the (Fountain & Griffiths 1998). qualitative techniques are in illegal substance use and in but particularly very evidence of this, qualitative researchers have regularly personal information on drug and or and of and between the and research participants about qualitative to the social and cultural of their study can an and that those being to their the strengths of qualitative work, there are As & Stenner qualitative techniques the of the scientific of and In more techniques and the of individuals in qualitative work that findings can be as of drug users in and are in to a and more of lives and of is an for those to a qualitative issues can problem is the of about what qualitative research is, by the variety of with its own rules, and can be adopted The of and in of data that qualitative researchers do not only need to explain and their techniques to those to quantitative They also need to explain and themselves to qualitative A further of qualitative research is the for and The and of drug responses to interview questions are often with their to events and Such of relevant to those conducting quantitative the and during qualitative research can help to give more it is the that interviews and observation as into the social setting they would the particular of can as well as et al. For example, the may those and behaviours that or the to qualitative methods have some very and tend to be and from a of the of a high of in-depth interviews or a of observation can produce such a of information that it is for the to become on a of qualitative data of everyday there is a that and can do qualitative research with or In we highlight what we to be some important of undertaking good qualitative work within the For we have the processes of analysis and In we that these tend to occur also that of the of a good qualitative study those we would for quantitative research. the less them for and a research or the have been and one or more research questions or the aim of the study is to and qualitative methods be in of quantitative and and personal are the is to on the and of qualitative data to be and techniques tend to be for qualitative work, materials and be and data be to that of the research are explored 1985). As with quantitative research, a and from a or Research but can take or This can in which is both and is be as as is practically is not be developed for with issues relating to and an on drug users to in research see 2001). As a to data to the data field be This the those who will be directly or indirectly involved in the drug users, and members of drug and that in the study is the has to be about what is being investigated and can be in one brief may be example, and information For data to researchers need to be about using their research methods and to questions the study. They also the field and information For personal addiction researchers are to an and they of their and of these very researchers have to be to the more of qualitative For example, they are to that study participants and, or focus groups are involved, they need to where and these will occur and even how people will that contact and observation of are 1985). also be to and that they do not themselves in that responses example, by or In to generate the most the subjects of qualitative research be that their will be and that they can and and the a of that interview can be or being In the the and of study participants of and a is an important of research, it is drug users who may have very about the and associated with much of their In practice, of the can be in diverse and and qualitative researchers their to the particular they are with and to the and occurring during the This flexibility and an to on the research A qualitative will and issues seem they will a basic of the Frequently, the of drink or the addiction may be their and their of they will very they will it may be to an interview a is to the may need to be on to who be time for and the to from the study. also be in a to provide information on local sources of is In to provide a of the as much information as be on people who but to in the study and on people who to but also write data Such will and information to supplement of the data who help with of data be for their time and they need be what will to the research findings and is Qualitative research is generally on the analysis interview and these data tend to be the and structure on them in to generate and 1985). of and is being undertaken with the of such as and These do not the data for the They materials to be and more and than is generally by The analysis is a personal The adopted within particular study will to the and of data the of the the and of the as well as the time and is of for Despite this, be and complete. the be and the data are analysed or only and than and findings can are accepted techniques of qualitative such as narrative cases, content analysis and it is not to examine of these the are to the and the to important and and a of that the in the and those with a of in the form of or (Miles & Huberman 1994). to & Huberman these processes are by three data and as well as about which will provide the data the for example by it into and and the data by and as well as the for their and As findings researchers will to for research might in and the wide range of and that might be it would be to Addiction on would suggest a of of the high social science and journals in Although Addiction does not a number of is the with scientific is of their focus on and qualitative papers tend to be than quantitative may be one why it can be to them published in some It is not to write qualitative work but it does a focus and a to some of the As with quantitative there are a number of important in qualitative work. For example, their findings to the provide a of the research the on the research methods employed and study Equally, they explain the that the data analysed using a particular approach of how was the very researchers the processes which the concepts and they from their issues are to qualitative work. The first is a to on the use of are an ideal way of to a particular or However, they be used to illustrate that together with in between suggest that the data have not been analysed The to Qualitative researchers who have their research subjects that into qualitative research is often on information from a number of individuals in a particular can be therefore be to that is This review with three rather questions. Is qualitative addiction research only a minority interest? Are qualitative analyses somehow less informative or less valuable than quantitative investigations? and do some addiction journals militate directly or indirectly against the publication of qualitative research? to these questions in brief we have of qualitative addiction research. The are rather than but that there is both a long and a of international qualitative work within the addiction field. Qualitative addiction research is, in we have how conducting qualitative work is generally and time and be to the of and materials in and and data results in under of work that yield and In qualitative particularly of time very data from one particular drug-using be as a or to undertaking a quantitative inquiry. the qualitative techniques often the of their quantitative quantitative studies tend to be more to the of data in of and As a qualitative studies are often not the of research and that they are less than quantitative research to be undertaken in the first it is not to that they are in the published Despite this, we hope that we have that the strengths of qualitative addiction research are and They have to understand and drug and about drug users, build and develop of addiction and and drug and They have also had particular in and in drug and particularly drug In qualitative techniques have played an important role in quantitative research by to illustrate and relationships (Walker p. that qualitative analyses are less informative or valuable than of investigation. They different questions and in different However, we that the of qualitative research is heavily upon the also the those undertaking the work. qualitative researchers will understand how to the techniques and data sources that are most to the being Equally, they will how to participants their a of and and and to and issues of the research and research qualitative methods have qualitative researchers study participants be of from their findings and their data in that are to as wide an as They also provide but accounts of their methods of data and these help to that qualitative work is the and it by research methodological and we to the of some addiction journals directly or indirectly the publication of qualitative research. A of be journals had an of not qualitative work or or qualitative research as or might occur journals such a structure that it was to write qualitative studies in the information or on these we can offer In the is only to those qualitative researchers would be better to we two those who are undertaking qualitative addiction research have in the scientific and of their methods and not in their data for that will their addiction journals and that will more qualitative This might a statement on qualitative research, not being about the structure and of that qualitative work is by those with qualitative from those to be undertaking valuable qualitative and setting an of for qualitative The to for review and three for their on an