Qualitative research for improved health programs: a guide to manuals for qualitative and participatory research on child health, nutrition, and reproductive health

This manual aims to bring together -in one document- descriptions and ordering information about all the currently available manuals and guides on qualitative and participatory research related to child health and nutrition and reproductive health.
The manual is divided into three sections:
I: resources on qualitative research methods
II: manuals on participatory research
III: manuals on specific health topics

Section I has 3 chapters.
Chapter 1 reviews a few selected introductory-level books and manuals on qualitative research. Most are related specifically to health.
Chapter 2 discusses the time and personnel needed for conducting focus group discussion research. Manuals on using this type of research method are reviewed.
Chapter 3, methods for qualitative data analysis, reviews a number of options for analysing textual data based on in-depth interviews and focus group transcripts. The second part of this chapter reviews ANTHROPAC, a software program for the analysis of systematic data.

Section II has also 3 chapters.
The first one, general resources on participatory research, describes the characteristics of this style of research and discusses different terms and acronyms that are used to refer to participatory methods and processes. Also provided is a list of current web sites and books on the subject.
The second chapter discusses the time and personnel needed for a participatory research project. It also reviews 10 participatory research manuals that describe how to use participatory research methods.
The last chapter describes how to perform the methods and how to train people to perform them. Seven manuals on training in participatory research methods are reviewed.

Section III is organised into seven chapters dealing with specific health topics like acute respiratory infections; malaria; water and sanitation; diarrheal diseases; nutrition, and reproductive health. All chapters contain reviews of manuals or guidebooks.