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Approach: The assumptions underlying public health research using qualitative methods derive from a range of social theories that include conflict theory, structural functionalism, symbolic interactionism, the sociology of knowledge and feminism. Depending on the research problem, these and other social theories provide conceptual tools and models for constructing a suitable research framework, and for collecting and analysing data. In combination with the substantive health literature, the theoretical literature provides the conceptual bridge that links the conclusions of the study to other social groups and settings. Conclusion: While descriptive studies using qualitative research methods can generate important insights into social experience, the use of social theory in the construction and conduct of research enables researchers to extrapolate their findings to settings and groups broader than the ones in which the research was conducted." name="eprints.abstract" /> <meta content="2007" name="eprints.date" /> <meta content="published" name="eprints.date_type" /> <meta content="Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health" name="eprints.publication" /> <meta content="31" name="eprints.volume" /> <meta content="5" name="eprints.number" /> <meta content="438-443" name="eprints.pagerange" /> <meta content="10.1111/j.1753-6405.2007.00115.x" name="eprints.id_number" /> <meta content="TRUE" name="eprints.refereed" /> <meta content="1326-0200" name="eprints.issn" /> <meta content="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-6405.2007.00115.x" name="eprints.official_url" /> <meta content=" Silverman D. Doing Qualitative Research: A Practical Handbook. London (UK): Sage; 2000. 2. Denzin NK, Lincoln YS, editors. The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks (CA): Sage; 2005. 3. Patton MQ. Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods. Thousand Oaks (CA): Sage; 2002. 4. Malterud K. Qualitative research: standards, challenges and guidelines. Lancet. 2001;358(9280);483-88. 5. Holloway I, Wheeler S. Qualitative Research in Nursing. 2nd ed. Oxford (UK): Blackwell; 2002. 6. Nutbeam D, Harris E. Theory in a Nutshell: A Practitioner’s Guide to Commonly Used Theories and Models in Health Promotion. Sydney (AUST): National Centre for Health Promotion, Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Sydney; 1998. 7. Ezzy D. Are qualitative methods misunderstood? Aust N Z J Public Health. 2001;24;294-7. 8. Leask J, Hawe P. Yes, qualitative methods are often misunderstood. Aust N Z J Public Health. 2001;25(5);471-2. 9. Patton MQ. Enhancing the quality and credibility of qualitative analysis. Health Serv Res. 1999;34(5);1189-208. 10. Popay J. Moving beyond floccinaucinihilipilification: enhancing the utility of systematic reviews. J Clin Epidemiol. 2005;58(11);1079-89. 11. Dixon-Woods M, Shaw RL, Agarwal S, Smith, JA. The problem of appraising qualitative research. Qual Saf Health Care. 2004;13(3):223-5. 12. Dixon-Woods M, Fitzpatrick, R. Qualitative research in systematic reviews has established a place for itself. Br Med J. 2001;323(7316):765-6. 13. Daly J, Willis K, Small R, Green J, et al. A hierarchy of evidence for assessing qualitative health research. J Clin Epidemiol. 2007;60(1):43-9. 14. Heilbron J. The Rise of Social Theory. Cambridge (UK): Polity Press; 1995. 15. Cuff EC, Payne GCF, Francis DW, Hustler DE, Sharrock WW. Perspectives in Sociology. 2nd ed. Boston (MA): Allen and Unwin; 1985. 16. Cuff EC, Sharrock WW, Francis DW. Perspectives in Sociology. 5th ed. London (UK): Routledge; 2006. 17. Cheek J, Shoebridge J, Willis E, Zadoroznyj M. Society and Health: Social Theory for Health Workers. Melbourne (AUST): Longman; 1996. 18. Charmaz K. ‘Discovering’ chronic illness: Using grounded theory. Soc Sci Med. 1990;30:1161-72. 19. Marx K. The process of production of capital. Vol 1. In: Capital: A Critique of Political Economy. Moscow (RUS): Progress Publishers; 1887. 20. Engels F. The Condition of the Working Class in England. London (UK): Penguin Books; 1987 [1844]. 21. Smith GD, editor. Health Inequalities: lifecourse approaches. Bristol (UK): Policy Press; 2003. 22. Weber M. Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology. Volume II. Roth G, Wittich C, translated and editors. Berkeley (CA): University of California Press; 1978. 23. Durkheim E. Suicide: A Study in Sociology. London (UK): Routledge and Kegan Paul; 1952 [1897]. 24. Parsons T. The Social System. London (UK): Routledge and Kegan Paul; 1951. 25. Blumer H. Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method. Berkeley (CA): University of California Press; 1969. 26. Emerson J. Behavior in private places: sustaining def initions of reality in gynecological examinations. In: Dreitzel HP, editor. Recent Sociology No.2: Patterns of Communicative Behavior. New York (NY): Macmillan; 1970. p. 74-97. 27. Goffman E. Stigma. Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. Englewood Cliffs (NJ): Prentice-Hall; 1963. 28. Bury MR. Social constructionism and the development of medical sociology. Sociol Health Illn. 1986;8(2);137-69. 29. Foucault M. The Birth of the Clinic: An Archaeology of Medical Perception. London (UK): Tavistock; 1973. 30. Lupton D. Medicine as Culture. 2nd ed. London (UK): Sage; 2003. 31. Lupton D. Femininity, responsibility, and the technological imperative: Discourses on breast cancer in the Australian press. Int J Health Serv. 1994;24(1):73-89. 32. Gavey N, McPhillips K, Doherty M. “If it’s not on, it’s not on”: Or is it? Discursive constraints on women’s condom use. Gender and Society. 2001;15(5):917-34. 33. De Beauvoir S. The Second Sex. London (UK): Penguin; 1972 [1949]. 34. Daly M. Gyn\Ecology. London (UK): The Women’s Press; 1979. 35. Ehrenreich B, English D. Complaints and Disorders: The Sexual Politics of Sickness. New York (NY): The Feminist Press; 1973. 36. Bordo S. Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body. Berkeley (CA): University of California Press; 1993. 37. Williams C. Doing health, doing gender: teenagers, diabetes and asthma. Soc Sci Med. 2000;50:387-96. 38. Oakley A. Interviewing women: a contradiction in terms. In: Roberts H, editor. Doing Feminist Research. London (UK): Routledge & Kegan Paul; 1981. p. 30-62. 39. Haynes RB, Yao X, Degani A, Kripalani S, et al. Interventions for enhancing medication adherence (Cochrane Review). In: The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Issue 4, 2005. Oxford (UK): Update Software; 2005. 40. Nack C. Bad girls and fallen women: chronic STD diagnoses as gateways to tribal stigma. Symbolic Interaction. 2002;25:463-85. 41. Bottorff JL, Kalaw C, Johnson JL, Stewart M, et al. Tobacco use in intimate spaces: issues in the study of couple dynamics. Qual Health Res. 2005;15:564-77." name="eprints.referencetext" /> <meta content="Willis, Karen and Daly, Jeanne and Kealy, Michelle and Small, Rhonda and Koutroulis, Glenda and Green, Julie and Gibbs, Lisa and Thomas, Samantha (2007) The essential role of social theory in qualitative public health research. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 31 (5). pp. 438-443. ISSN 1326-0200" name="eprints.citation" /> <meta content="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/2670/1/Willis_et_al_social_theory_5B1_5D.pdf" name="eprints.document_url" /> <link rel="schema.DC" href="http://purl.org/DC/elements/1.0/" /> <meta content="The essential role of social theory in qualitative public health research" name="DC.title" /> <meta content="Willis, Karen" name="DC.creator" /> <meta content="Daly, Jeanne" name="DC.creator" /> <meta content="Kealy, Michelle" name="DC.creator" /> <meta content="Small, Rhonda" name="DC.creator" /> <meta content="Koutroulis, Glenda" name="DC.creator" /> <meta content="Green, Julie" name="DC.creator" /> <meta content="Gibbs, Lisa" name="DC.creator" /> <meta content="Thomas, Samantha" name="DC.creator" /> <meta content="321200 Public Health and Health Services" name="DC.subject" /> <meta content="370000 Studies in Human Society" name="DC.subject" /> <meta content="Objective: To define the role of social theory and examine how research studies using qualitative methods can use social theory to generalise their results beyond the setting of the study or to other social groups. Approach: The assumptions underlying public health research using qualitative methods derive from a range of social theories that include conflict theory, structural functionalism, symbolic interactionism, the sociology of knowledge and feminism. Depending on the research problem, these and other social theories provide conceptual tools and models for constructing a suitable research framework, and for collecting and analysing data. In combination with the substantive health literature, the theoretical literature provides the conceptual bridge that links the conclusions of the study to other social groups and settings. Conclusion: While descriptive studies using qualitative research methods can generate important insights into social experience, the use of social theory in the construction and conduct of research enables researchers to extrapolate their findings to settings and groups broader than the ones in which the research was conducted." name="DC.description" /> <meta content="2007" name="DC.date" /> <meta content="Article" name="DC.type" /> <meta content="PeerReviewed" name="DC.type" /> <meta content="application/pdf" name="DC.format" /> <meta content="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/2670/1/Willis_et_al_social_theory_5B1_5D.pdf" name="DC.identifier" /> <meta content="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-6405.2007.00115.x" name="DC.relation" /> <meta content="Willis, Karen and Daly, Jeanne and Kealy, Michelle and Small, Rhonda and Koutroulis, Glenda and Green, Julie and Gibbs, Lisa and Thomas, Samantha (2007) The essential role of social theory in qualitative public health research. 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border: solid 1px #ccc; padding: 3px"><tr> <td align="left"><a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/users/home">Login</a> | <a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/register">Create Account</a></td> <td align="right" style="white-space: nowrap"> <form method="get" accept-charset="utf-8" action="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/search" style="display:inline"> <input class="ep_tm_searchbarbox" size="20" type="text" name="q" /> <input class="ep_tm_searchbarbutton" value="Search" type="submit" name="_action_search" /> <input type="hidden" name="_order" value="bytitle" /> <input type="hidden" name="basic_srchtype" value="ALL" /> <input type="hidden" name="_satisfyall" value="ALL" /> </form> </td> </tr></table></td></tr> <tr> <td class="toplinks"><!-- InstanceBeginEditable name="content" --> <div align="center"> <table width="720" class="ep_tm_main"><tr><td align="left"> <h1 class="ep_tm_pagetitle">The essential role of social theory in qualitative public health research</h1> <p style="margin-bottom: 1em" class="not_ep_block"><span class="person_name">Willis, Karen</span> and <span class="person_name">Daly, Jeanne</span> and <span class="person_name">Kealy, Michelle</span> and <span class="person_name">Small, Rhonda</span> and <span class="person_name">Koutroulis, Glenda</span> and <span class="person_name">Green, Julie</span> and <span class="person_name">Gibbs, Lisa</span> and <span class="person_name">Thomas, Samantha</span> (2007) <xhtml:em>The essential role of social theory in qualitative public health research.</xhtml:em> Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 31 (5). pp. 438-443. ISSN 1326-0200</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em" class="not_ep_block"></p><table style="margin-bottom: 1em" class="not_ep_block"><tr><td valign="top" style="text-align:center"><a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/2670/1/Willis_et_al_social_theory_5B1_5D.pdf"><img alt="[img]" src="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/style/images/fileicons/application_pdf.png" class="ep_doc_icon" border="0" /></a></td><td valign="top"><a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/2670/1/Willis_et_al_social_theory_5B1_5D.pdf"><span class="ep_document_citation">PDF</span></a> - Full text restricted - Requires a PDF viewer<br />135Kb</td><td><form method="get" accept-charset="utf-8" action="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/request_doc"><input accept-charset="utf-8" value="3591" name="docid" type="hidden" /><div class=""><input value="Request a copy" name="_action_null" class="ep_form_action_button" onclick="return EPJS_button_pushed( '_action_null' )" type="submit" /> </div></form></td></tr></table><p style="margin-bottom: 1em" class="not_ep_block">Official URL: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-6405.2007.00115.x">http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-6405.2007.00115.x</a></p><div class="not_ep_block"><h2>Abstract</h2><p style="padding-bottom: 16px; text-align: left; margin: 1em auto 0em auto">Objective: To define the role of social theory and examine how research studies using qualitative methods can use social theory to generalise their results beyond the setting of the study or to other social groups. Approach: The assumptions underlying public health research using qualitative methods derive from a range of social theories that include conflict theory, structural functionalism, symbolic interactionism, the sociology of knowledge and feminism. Depending on the research problem, these and other social theories provide conceptual tools and models for constructing a suitable research framework, and for collecting and analysing data. In combination with the substantive health literature, the theoretical literature provides the conceptual bridge that links the conclusions of the study to other social groups and settings. Conclusion: While descriptive studies using qualitative research methods can generate important insights into social experience, the use of social theory in the construction and conduct of research enables researchers to extrapolate their findings to settings and groups broader than the ones in which the research was conducted.</p></div><table style="margin-bottom: 1em" cellpadding="3" class="not_ep_block" border="0"><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Item Type:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row">Article</td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Additional Information:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row">"The definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.com" </td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Keywords:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row">Qualitative research; social theory; generalisability; evidence.</td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Subjects:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row"><a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/view/subjects/321200.html">320000 Medical and Health Sciences > 321200 Public Health and Health Services</a><br /><a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/view/subjects/370000.html">370000 Studies in Human Society</a></td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">ID Code:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row">2670</td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Deposited By:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row"><span class="ep_name_citation"><span class="person_name">Dr Karen Willis</span></span></td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Deposited On:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row">13 Dec 2007 14:44</td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Last Modified:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row">09 Jan 2008 02:30</td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">ePrint Statistics:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row"><a target="ePrintStats" href="/es/index.php?action=show_detail_eprint;id=2670;">View statistics for this ePrint</a></td></tr></table><p align="right">Repository Staff Only: <a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/users/home?screen=EPrint::View&eprintid=2670">item control page</a></p> </td></tr></table> </div> <!-- InstanceEndEditable --></td> </tr> <tr> <td><!-- #BeginLibraryItem "/Library/footer_eprints.lbi" --> <table width="795" border="0" align="left" cellpadding="0" class="footer"> <tr valign="top"> <td colspan="2"><div align="center"><a href="http://www.utas.edu.au">UTAS home</a> | <a href="http://www.utas.edu.au/library/">Library home</a> | <a href="/">ePrints home</a> | <a href="/contact.html">contact</a> | <a href="/information.html">about</a> | <a href="/view/">browse</a> | <a href="/perl/search/simple">search</a> | <a href="/perl/register">register</a> | <a href="/perl/users/home">user area</a> | <a href="/help/">help</a></div><br /></td> </tr> <tr><td colspan="2"><p><img src="/images/eprints/footerline.gif" width="100%" height="4" /></p></td></tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="68%" class="footer">Authorised by the University Librarian<br /> © University of Tasmania ABN 30 764 374 782<br /> <a href="http://www.utas.edu.au/cricos/">CRICOS Provider Code 00586B</a> | <a href="http://www.utas.edu.au/copyright/copyright_disclaimers.html">Copyright & Disclaimers</a> | <a href="http://www.utas.edu.au/accessibility/index.html">Accessibility</a> | <a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/feedback/">Site Feedback</a> </td> <td width="32%"><div align="right"> <p align="right" class="NoPrint"><a href="http://www.utas.edu.au/"><img src="http://www.utas.edu.au/shared/logos/unioftasstrip.gif" alt="University of Tasmania Home Page" width="260" height="16" border="0" align="right" /></a></p> <p align="right" class="NoPrint"><a href="http://www.utas.edu.au/"><br /> </a></p> </div></td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td><p> </p></td> <td><div align="right"><span class="NoPrint"><a href="http://www.eprints.org/software/"><img src="/images/eprintslogo.gif" alt="ePrints logo" width="77" height="29" border="0" align="bottom" /></a></span></div></td> </tr> </table> <!-- #EndLibraryItem --> <div align="center"></div></td> </tr> </table> </body> </html>