First and Second Edition Copyright © 1994 by Matthew B. Miles and A.

Michael Huberman

Third Edition Copyright © 2014 SAGE Publications, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Miles, Matthew B.
Qualitative data analysis: a methods sourcebook / Matthew B. Miles, A. Michael Huberman, Johnny Saldaña, Arizona State University.
— Third edition.

pages. cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4522-5787-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)

1. Social sciences—Research. 2. Education—Research. I. Huberman, A. M. II. Saldaña, Johnny. III. Title.

H62.M437 2014
001.4′2—dc23 2013002036

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

13 14 15 16 17 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FOR INFORMATION:

SAGE Publications, Inc.

2455 Teller Road
Thousand Oaks, California 91320
E-mail: order@sagepub.com

SAGE Publications Ltd.

1 Oliver’s Yard
55 City Road
London EC1Y 1SP
United Kingdom

SAGE Publications India Pvt. Ltd.

B 1/I 1 Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area
Mathura Road, New Delhi 110 044
India

SAGE Publications Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd.

3 Church Street
#10-04 Samsung Hub
Singapore 049483

Acquisitions Editor: Helen Salmon

Editorial Assistant: Kaitlin Perry
Assistant Editor: Kalie Koscielak
Production Editor: Laura Barrett
Copy Editor: QuADS Prepress (P) Ltd.
Typesetter: C&M Digitals (P) Ltd.
Proofreader: Theresa Kay
Indexer: Will Ragsdale
Cover Designer: Janet Kiesel
Marketing Manager: Nicole Elliott
Permissions Editor: Adele Hutchinson
Brief Table of Contents
List of Displays
Preface to the Third Edition by Johnny Saldaña
Acknowledgments From the Second Edition by Matthew B. Miles and A. Michael Huberman
About the Authors

Part One – The Substantive Start

Chapter 1 - Introduction

Chapter 2 - Research Design and Management

Chapter 3 - Ethical Issues in Analysis

Chapter 4 - Fundamentals of Qualitative Data Analysis

Part Two – Displaying the Data

Chapter 5 - Designing Matrix and Network Displays

Chapter 6 - Methods of Exploring

Chapter 7 - Methods of Describing

Chapter 8 - Methods of Ordering

Chapter 9 - Methods of Explaining

Chapter 10 - Methods of Predicting

Part Three – Making Good Sense

Chapter 11 - Drawing and Verifying Conclusions

Chapter 12 - Writing About Qualitative Research

Chapter 13 - Closure

Appendix – An Annotated Bibliography of Qualitative Research Resources

References
Author Index
Subject Index
Contents
List of Displays
Preface to the Third Edition by Johnny Saldaña
Acknowledgments From the Second Edition by Matthew B. Miles and A. Michael Huberman
About the Authors

Part One – The Substantive Start

Chapter 1 - Introduction

The Purpose of This Book

The Nature of This Book
Audiences
Approach
Our Orientation
Genres of Qualitative Research
An Approach to Qualitative Data Analysis
Analytic Methods: Some Common Features
The Nature of Qualitative Data
General Nature
Strengths of Qualitative Data
Our View of Qualitative Data Analysis
Data Condensation
Data Display
Drawing and Verifying Conclusions
Suggestions for Readers
Students and Other Novice Researchers
Experienced Researchers
Teachers of Qualitative Research Methods Courses
Closure and Transition
Chapter 2 - Research Design and Management
Introduction
Tight Versus Loose Designs: Some Trade-Offs
Building a Conceptual Framework
Description and Rationale
Examples
Advice
Formulating Research Questions
Description and Rationale
Example
Advice
Defining the Case
Description and Rationale
Examples
Advice
 Sampling: Bounding the Collection of Data
Description and Rationale
Key Features of Qualitative Sampling
General Sampling Strategies
Within-Case Sampling
Multiple-Case Sampling
Example
Advice
Instrumentation
Description and Rationale
Example
Advice
Linking Qualitative and Quantitative Data
Approaches to Mixed-Methods Designs
Management Issues Bearing on Analysis
Computer and Software Use
Data Management
Staffing and Time Planning
Closure and Transition
Note
Chapter 3 - Ethical Issues in Analysis
Introduction
Agreements With Study Participants
Ethical Issues
Worthiness of the Project
Competence
Informed Consent
Benefits, Costs, and Reciprocity
Harm and Risk
Honesty and Trust
Privacy, Confidentiality, and Anonymity
Intervention and Advocacy
Research Integrity and Quality
Ownership of Data and Conclusions
Use and Misuse of Results
Conflicts, Dilemmas, and Trade-Offs
Closure and Transition
Chapter 4 - Fundamentals of Qualitative Data Analysis
Introduction
Data Processing and Preparation
First-Cycle Codes and Coding
Description
Applications
First-Cycle Coding Examples
Creating Codes
Revising Codes
Structure and Unity in Code Lists
 Definitions of Codes
Levels of Coding Detail
Second Cycle Coding: Pattern Codes
Description
Applications
Examples
From Codes to Patterns
Coding Advice
Jottings
Analytic Memoing
Description and Rationale
Examples
On Visual Data
Memoing Advice
Assertions and Propositions
Within-Case and Cross-Case Analysis
Purposes of Cross-Case Analysis
A Key Distinction: Variables Versus Cases
Strategies for Cross-Case Analysis
Closure and Transition

Part Two – Displaying the Data

Chapter 5 - Designing Matrix and Network Displays
Introduction
Display Format Options
Matrices
Networks
Timing of Display Design
Formatting the Matrix Template
Entering Matrix and Network Data
Making Inferences and Drawing Conclusions From Matrices and Networks
The Methods Profiles
Closure and Transition
Chapter 6 - Methods of Exploring
Introduction
Exploring Fieldwork in Progress
Data Accounting Log
Contact Summary Form
Case Analysis Meeting
Interim Case Summary
Partially Ordered Meta-Matrix
Explanatory Effects Matrix
Exploring Variables
Checklist Matrix
Content-Analytic Summary Table
Contrast Table
Two-Variable Case-Ordered Matrix
 Exploring Reports in Progress
Pre-structured Case
Sequential Analyses
Closure and Transition
Chapter 7 - Methods of Describing
Introduction
Describing Participants
Role-Ordered Matrix
Context Chart
Describing Variability
Construct Table
Conceptually Clustered Matrix
Folk Taxonomy
Describing Action
Vignettes
Poetic Display
Cognitive Maps
Closure and Transition
Chapter 8 - Methods of Ordering
Introduction
Ordering by Time
Event-Listing Matrix
Growth Gradient
Time-Ordered Matrix
Ordering Processes
Decision Modeling
Event-State Network
Composite Sequence Analysis
Ordering by Cases
Case-Ordered Descriptive Meta-Matrix
Closure and Transition
Chapter 9 - Methods of Explaining
Introduction
Explaining Interrelationship
Variable-by-Variable Matrix
Explaining Change
Effects Matrix
Case Dynamics Matrix
Explaining Causation
Causal Chains
Causal Network: Within-Case Analysis
Causal Network: Cross-Case Analysis
Closure and Transition
Chapter 10 - Methods of Predicting
Introduction
 Methods of Predicting
Making and Testing Predictions
Prediction-Outcome-Consequences Matrix
Causal-Prediction Models
Closure and Transition

Part Three – Making Good Sense

Chapter 11 - Drawing and Verifying Conclusions
Introduction
Tactics for Generating Meaning
1. Noting Patterns, Themes
2. Seeing Plausibility
3. Clustering
4. Making Metaphors
5. Counting
6. Making Contrasts/Comparisons
7. Partitioning Variables
8. Subsuming Particulars Into the General
9. Factoring
10. Noting the Relations Between Variables
11. Finding Intervening Variables
12. Building a Logical Chain of Evidence
13. Making Conceptual/Theoretical Coherence
Tactics for Testing or Confirming Findings
1. Checking for Representativeness
2. Checking for Researcher Effects
3. Triangulating
4. Weighting the Evidence
5. Checking the Meaning of Outliers
6. Using Extreme Cases
7. Following Up Surprises
8. Looking for Negative Evidence
9. Making If-Then Tests
10. Ruling Out Spurious Relations
11. Replicating a Finding
12. Checking Out Rival Explanations
13. Getting Feedback From Participants
Standards for the Quality of Conclusions
Objectivity/Confirmability
Reliability/Dependability/Auditability
Internal Validity/Credibility/Authenticity
External Validity/Transferability/Fittingness
Utilization/Application/Action Orientation
Analytic Documentation
The Problem
Illustration
Closure and Transition
Chapter 12 - Writing About Qualitative Research
 Introduction
Audiences and Effects
The Reader and the Writer
Types of Effects
Voices, Genres, and Stances
Writing Example
Formats and Structures
Traditional Presentation Modes
Progressive Presentation Modes
On Theses and Dissertations
Closure and Transition
Chapter 13 - Closure
Qualitative Analysis at a Glance
Reflections
Final Advice

Appendix – An Annotated Bibliography of Qualitative Research Resources

References
Author Index
Subject Index
List of Displays
Display 1.1 Components of Data Analysis: Interactive Model

Display 2.1 A First-Draft Conceptual Framework for a Case Study Teacher and the Influences on
Her Practice

Display 2.2 Major Influences on a Language Arts Teacher’s Practice

Display 2.3 Conceptual Framework for a Multicase “School Improvement” Field Study, Initial
Version

Display 2.4 General and Specific Research Questions Relating to the Adoption Decision (School
Improvement Study)

Display 2.5 The Case as the Unit of Analysis

Display 2.6 Prior Instrumentation: Key Decision Factors

Display 2.7 Excerpts From Interview Guide, School Improvement Study

Display 2.8 Illustrative Designs Linking Qualitative and Quantitative Data

Display 2.9 Uses of Computer Software in Qualitative Studies

Display 2.10 An Excel Spread Sheet With Qualitative and Quantitative Data

Display 2.11 An NVivo 10 Screen Shot of a Coded Digital Video Interview

Display 2.12 A Model of Lifelong Confidence From High School Speech and Theatre

Display 2.13 What to Store, Retrieve From, and Retain

Display 3.1 Questions for Agreement With Study Participants

Display 4.1 Illustration of a Start List of Codes

Display 4.2 Definitions of Selected Codes From Display 4.1 (Excerpts)

Display 4.3 Smoking Cessation Patterns at Months 1 and 6

Display 4.4 A Model of Smoking Cessation Loss Transformation

Display 4.5 Interview Transcript With Jottings

Display 5.1 Effects Matrix: Assistance Location and Types (Masepa Case)

Display 5.2 A Network Model of “Lifelong Impact” From High School Speech Participation

Display 5.3 A QDA Miner 4 3-D Map of a Codes Network

Display 6.1 Data Accounting Log

Display 6.2 Contact Summary Form: Illustration (Excerpts)

Display 6.3 Contact Summary Form: Illustration With Coded Themes (Excerpt)

Display 6.4 Case Analysis Meeting Form

Display 6.5 Case Analysis Form: Exhibit With Data

Display 6.6 Summary-Aided Approach to Analysis

Display 6.7 Interim Case Summary Outline: Illustration

Display 6.8 Data Accounting Sheet: Abstract Example

Display 6.9 Case-Level Display for Partially Ordered Meta-Matrix (Format)

Display 6.10 Case-Level Display for Partially Ordered Meta-Matrix: Users’ Second Year of
Implementation at Lido

Display 6.11 Partially Ordered Meta-Matrix: User Feelings/Concerns and Other Variables (Format)

Display 6.12 Partially Ordered Meta-Matrix: User Feelings/Concerns and Other Variables (Lido
Data)

Display 6.13 Time-Ordered Meta-Matrix (Format)

Display 6.14 Summary Table: Individual and Institutional Concerns During Later Implementation

Display 6.15 Explanatory Effects Matrix: Ongoing Assistance

Display 6.16 Checklist Matrix: Conditions Supporting Preparedness at Smithson School,

Banestown Case

Display 6.17 Checklist Matrix on Preparedness (Alternative Format 1)

Display 6.18 Checklist Matrix on Preparedness (Alternative Format 2)

Display 6.19 Checklist Matrix on Preparedness (Alternative Format 3)

Display 6.20 Content-Analytic Summary Table: The Content of Organization Changes

Display 6.21 Contrast Table: Exemplary Cases Showing Different Degrees of User Change

Display 6.22 Two-Variable Case-Ordered Matrix: Relationships Between User Practice

Stabilization and Local Continuation

Display 6.23 Pre-structured Case Outline: Abbreviated Version

Display 6.24 Traditional Analysis Sequence Compared With Pre-structured Case

Display 7.1 Role-Ordered Matrix: First Reactions to the Innovation

Display 7.2 Context Chart for Tindale East High School and District

Display 7.3 Lifelong Impact: Variability of Influence

Display 7.4 Conceptually Clustered Matrix: Motives and Attitudes (Format)

Display 7.5 Conceptually Clustered Matrix: Motives and Attitudes of Users, Nonusers, and
 Administrators at Masepa

Display 7.6 A Folk Taxonomy of the Ways Children Oppress Each Other

Display 7.7 A Cognitive Map of One Person’s Housecleaning Process

Display 8.1 Event Listing, Banestown Case

Display 8.2 Event History of a Case Study

Display 8.3 Growth Gradient for ECRI Innovation, Masepa Case

Display 8.4 Time-Ordered Matrix: Changes in the CARED Innovation (a Work Experience
Program)

Display 8.5 Summary Table for Verifying and Interpreting Time-Ordered Matrix: Changes in the
CARED Innovation

Display 8.6 One Person’s Decision Model for Saving Money

Display 8.7 Event–State Network, Banestown Case (Excerpt)

Display 8.8 Composite Sequence Analysis: Career Trajectory Data for 11 Cases (Huberman,
1989)

Display 8.9 Case-Ordered Meta-Matrix: Format for Student Impact Data

Display 8.10 Case-Ordered Descriptive Meta-Matrix (Excerpt): Program Objectives and Student
Impact (Direct, Meta-Level, and Side Effects)

Display 8.11 Case-Ordered Effects Matrix Template

Display 9.1 Variable-by-Variable Matrix: Coping Strategies and Problems, by Case

Display 9.2 Summary Table: Typical Consequences of Coping, by Case

Display 9.3 Effects Matrix: Organizational Changes After Implementation of the ECRI Program

Display 9.4 Case Dynamics Matrix: The IPA Innovation as a Force for Organizational Change in
the District and Its Schools

Display 9.5 Causal Chain: Illustration

Display 9.6 Causal Chain: Illustration

Display 9.7 Causal Fragment: Mastery of a New Educational Practice

Display 9.8 Excerpt From a Causal Network: Perry-Parkdale School

Display 9.9 Excerpt From an Event–State Network: Perry-Parkdale School

Display 9.10 List of Antecedent, Mediating, and Outcome Variables: School Improvement Study

Display 9.11 Causal Network for Perry-Parkdale CARED Program

Display 9.12 Narrative for Causal Network: Perry-Parkdale CARED Program

Display 9.13 Subnetwork: Variable Streams Leading to High Job Mobility, Perry-Parkdale Case

Display 9.14 Subnetwork for Job Mobility, Calston Case

Display 9.15 Subnetwork for Job Mobility, Banestown Case

Display 9.16 Subnetwork for Job Mobility, Plummet Case

Display 10.1 Prediction Feedback Form

Display 10.2 Factors Supporting “Institutionalization” Prediction

Display 10.3 Factors Working Against “Institutionalization” Prediction

Display 10.4 Filled-Out Response Form From Case Informant for “Institutionalization” Prediction

Display 10.5 Predictor-Outcome-Consequences Matrix: Antecedents and Consequences of

Assistance

Display 10.6 Causal-Prediction Model Tracing User Practice Changes

Display 10.7 Predictor-Outcome Matrix: Predictors of Magnitude of User Practice Change

Display 11.1 Reasons Given for Adoption by Users

Display 11.2 Two-Variable Relationship

Display 11.3 Two-Variable Relationship With Intervening Variables

Display 11.4 Example of a Chain of Evidence Supporting an Observed Outcome

Display 11.5 Possible Explanation of a Spurious Relationship

Display 11.6 Display for Testing Explanations in Display 11.5

Display 11.7 Qualitative Analysis Documentation Form

Display 11.8 Code List for Analysis Operations

Display 13.1 Overview of Qualitative Data Analysis Processes

Preface to the Third Edition
Johnny Saldaña

his new edition of Matthew B. Miles and A. Michael Huberman’s classic 1994 text, Qualitative
T Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook, updates and streamlines the late authors’ unique work
for a new generation of qualitative researchers as well as for the dedicated followers of their
methods over the past three decades. I have been honored to join them, in spirit, as the third author of
this revised text.
To this day, qualitative data analysis seems to remain a somewhat mysterious and elusive process
for newcomers to the field. This is due in part to the wide variety of genres, methodologies, and
methods available to researchers, making it sometimes difficult to choose the “best” ones for the
particular study in hand. In addition, qualitative research has a solid foundation of analytic traditions
but no current standardization of practice—there is no official qualitative executive board out there
mandating exactly how analysis must be conducted. Ours is “designer research,” customized to the
particular goals and needs of the enterprise and interpreted through each researcher’s unique analytic
lens and filter. Books on research methods can no longer require; they can only recommend.
This book offers its readers practical guidance in recommended methods for assembling and
analyzing primarily text-based data. Qualitative Data Analysis: A Methods Sourcebook is designed
for researchers in virtually all fields and disciplines that honor what their human participants have to
say, treasure the products and artifacts they create, and respect the complexity of social action as it
happens all around us. It is intended for students in graduate degree programs who are learning how
to investigate the human condition through qualitative research coursework and for established
scholars and practitioners continuing their professional development by reading the literature on
current methods.

A Note on This Revision

For this third edition, SAGE Publications charged me to maintain the general spirit and integrity of
the core contents of Miles and Huberman’s (1994) authoritative work, while making their text more
accessible and relevant to contemporary researchers. I have added information on the newer
computing technology and software available today, and reorganized and streamlined the original
authors’ classic methods. Readers familiar with the previous edition will notice that in this edition I
have re-envisioned the primary display chapters, not organizing them by within-case and cross-case
divisions but by Miles and Huberman’s five primary purposes of display: to explore, describe,
order, explain, and predict. I have reduced the number of displays from the second edition and, when
possible, reformatted them using mainstream software. SAGE Publications’ art production staff have
redrawn many of the original figures.
I have also added selected coverage of additional genres of qualitative inquiry, such as narrative
inquiry, autoethnography, mixed methods, and arts-based research, that have emerged prominently
over the past 20 years. I have smoothed down the second edition’s semiquantitative edges to align
and harmonize the original authors’ approach with that of current qualitative inquirers. And I have
brought my own analytic signature to the text, respecting some of the original authors’ traditions
while adapting others into a newer, evolving research culture. Overall, I have scaled back the
impressive, if sometimes overwhelming, size of Miles and Huberman’s original work to present and
re-present their insightful analytic methods in a more focused and useful manner.
In certain problematic sections of the second edition, I struggled with deciding whether to delete,
maintain, or revise the text. Since my charge as third coauthor was to adapt Miles and Huberman’s
work, not to write my own book on qualitative data analysis, I have respected the original authors’
contributions to the field by maintaining the conceptual approaches and most of the analytic methods
of their book. Nevertheless, I have, without guilt, mercilessly deleted most of its early references,
second-source displays, duplicate and overextended discussions, and some more convoluted
sections.
I have brought my own working knowledge of the book’s second edition into my revision efforts
because, as a student, I was enrolled in two courses where Miles and Huberman’s text was required
reading. This revision is based on what I wish the book had offered me as a novice to qualitative
research and what I believe today’s graduate students need from a textbook on qualitative data
analysis. My reorganizing decisions are based on pedagogical knowledge of how most university
graduate students learn and on how I personally prefer to teach: progressing in a highly organized,
systematic way, one building block at a time, toward a spiraled, cumulative synthesis—a process I’m
almost certain Miles and Huberman would have appreciated and found compatible with their own
approach.
I also brought my knowledge of Miles and Huberman’s book to my work as author of SAGE
Publications’ The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers (Saldaña, 2013), in which I included
a few of their coding and analysis methods. And I incorporated some of The Coding Manual’s
content into this book, further integrating the three coauthors’ work. In addition, I supplemented a few
of the original authors’ display methods and discussions with examples from my own research
projects and incorporated The Coding Manual’s method profile structure (Description,
Applications, Example, Analysis, Notes) into this revision.
Finally, as the third coauthor of this edition, I have been in the position, both privileged and
awkward, of “speaking” for the late Miles and Huberman. When I am in agreement with their
original premises and assertions, I deliberately use “we” in writing, as I do when making some
informed assumptions that my own opinions would be similar to theirs. Occasionally, when our
opinions seem to diverge, subtly or greatly, I specify whose belief is being discussed.

Acknowledgments
I am honored that Helen Salmon, acquisitions editor of SAGE Publications’ College Division,
commissioned me to adapt Miles and Huberman’s text for its third edition. Her editorial assistant
Kaitlin Perry was a tremendous resource for manuscript and display preparation. I also thank Laura
Barrett, Kalie Koscielak, Judith Newlin, Nicole Elliott, and Janet Kiesel of SAGE Publications for
their production work on this book. Betty Miles offered me not only her support but also her keen eye
and editorial prowess for this revision. My initial contact with SAGE began with their London office
editor, Patrick Brindle, who encouraged me to develop The Coding Manual for Qualitative
Researchers, and for his welcoming invitation I am truly grateful.
My own qualitative research methods professors at Arizona State University significantly
influenced my growth as a scholar and writer. I am indebted to Tom Barone, Mary Lee Smith, Amira
De la Garza, and Sarah J. Tracy for their life-changing impact on my academic career. Coleman A.
Jennings from The University of Texas at Austin served as my graduate school artistic mentor; Lin
Wright from Arizona State University started me as an assistant professor on my research trajectory;
and Mitch Allen, Joe Norris, Laura A. McCammon, Matt Omasta, and Angie Hines are my research
colleagues and loyal supporters. I also extend thanks to my long-distance mentors, Harry F. Wolcott,
Norman K. Denzin, and Yvonna S. Lincoln, for their insightful writings, wisdom, and guidance.
In the second edition of Qualitative Data Analysis, Miles and Huberman thanked a large number
of individuals and organizations. Their contributions continue to enrich this revised edition of the
book, and they have my gratitude as well. For this particular edition, I also thank Oxford University
Press for their permission to reprint selected excerpts from my text Fundamentals of Qualitative
Research (Saldaña, 2011b); Teachers College Record and Taylor & Francis for article excerpt
permissions; and Normand Péladeau of Provalis Research/QDA Miner and Katie Desmond of QSR
International/NVivo for their permission to use qualitative data analysis software screenshots.

My final thanks go to Matthew B. Miles and A. Michael Huberman themselves. To my knowledge,

 My final thanks go to Matthew B. Miles and A. Michael Huberman themselves. To my knowledge,
I never met them or heard them speak at professional conferences, but their data-analytic methods,
which I learned intimately in my qualitative research courses, have been part of my work ever since.
I always strive to meet their rigorous standards, and I frequently quote their now classic advice to
“think display.” I owe much of my career trajectory to the legacy of scholars before me whose
methods books and articles helped shape my own ways of working as a qualitative researcher and
data analyst. Miles and Huberman are two of those esteemed scholars, and I am honored to be
connected with them in this new way. I hope that this third edition of their book pays proper tribute
and homage to their significant level of scholarship.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments
SAGE Publications and Johnny Saldaña are grateful for feedback on the draft manuscript of the
third edition from the following reviewers: James H. Banning of Colorado State University–Fort
Collins, Carolyn M. Garcia of the University of Minnesota, Madelyn Iris of Northwestern University,
Mary Madden of The University of Maine–Orono, Sharon M. Ravitch of the University of
Pennsylvania, Patricia Somers of The University of Texas–Austin, and Mildred E. Warner of Cornell
University.
Acknowledgments From the Second Edition
Matthew B. Miles and A. Michael Huberman

he first edition of this book grew out of our (Miles and Huberman’s) experience in two linked
T research projects. One, beginning in 1978, was the field study component of the Study of
Dissemination Efforts Supporting School Improvement (Department of Education Contract 300-
78-0527), led by David P. Crandall of The Network, Inc. We are indebted to him for his steady
encouragement and support, and that of Ann Bezdek Weinheimer, project officer from the Office of
Planning, Budgeting and Evaluation.
In the field study itself, Beverly Loy Taylor and Jo Ann Goldberg were strong colleagues; their
fieldwork and case study analysis, along with ours, led to Volume 4 of the DESSI final report,
People, Policies, and Practices: Examining the Chain of School Improvement, later published as
Innovation Up Close (Huberman & Miles, 1984).
The second project, “The Realities of School Improvement Programs: Analysis of Qualitative
Data” (NIE grant G-81-001-8), gave us the opportunity to develop our methodological ideas further
and to write the first edition of this book. Rolf Lehming, of the Program on Dissemination and
Improvement of Practice, was our project officer; we valued his sustained interest and advice.
The ideas in the first edition—and indeed in this one—do not necessarily reflect the views or
policies of the Department of Education. But we remain grateful for its sponsorship of these studies.
In the past 10 years, many people have contributed to our understanding of qualitative data
analysis and to the development of the second edition. We have experimented in the company of
colleagues with studies that expanded, tested, and refined the methods described in the first edition.
We are indebted to Ann Lieberman, Ellen Saxl, Myrna Cooper, Vernay Mitchell, and Sharon Piety-
Jacobs, who joined Miles in a study (1983–1985) of school “change agents”; to the late Eleanor
Farrar, Karen Seashore Louis, Sheila Rosenblum, and Tony Cipollone, in a study with Miles (1985–
1989) of urban high school reform; to Per Dalin, Adriaan Verspoor, Ray Chesterfield, Hallvard
Kuløy, Tekle Ayano, Mumtaz Jahan, and Carlos Rojas, whom we assisted in a World Bank study
(1988–1992) of educational reform in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Colombia; to Marie-Madeleine
Grounauer and Gianreto Pini, Huberman’s associates in a teachers’ life cycle study (1982–1986);
and to Monica Gather-Thurler and Erwin Beck, associates in Huberman’s study of research use
(1984–1988).
As always, the process of teaching from the book taught us a great deal. There are too many
participants to list, but we were fortunate to have led an extended series of seminars at the
universities of Nijmegen and Utrecht (strong thanks to Rein van der Vegt) and at many other
universities as well: Geneva, Zürich, Paris, Dijon, Leuven, Göteborg, Montreal, Toronto, Queen’s,
Utah, Monash, Melbourne, and Adelaide.
During 1990–1991, we sent an informal survey to a wide range of people engaged in qualitative
research, asking for collegial advice and examples of their work. Our warm thanks to the 126
researchers who responded; they provided a wide range of ideas, papers, advice, and cautions that
were immensely helpful. Many of these colleagues are quoted or cited in this book. Grants
supporting the extensive retrieval and synthesis work for this edition came to us from the John D. and
Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, where Peter Gerber provided thoughtful support, and from
SAGE Publications. Sara Miller McCune and David McCune of SAGE took a keen interest in the
project. We are grateful for the active, intelligent guidance that our editor, Mitch Allen, provided
throughout the work.
We owe a very special debt to Carolyn Riehl. Her ability to locate and extract interesting ideas—
both substantive and methodological—from a wide range of qualitative studies is remarkable. She
was a strong third colleague during our extended period of retrieval and ordering.
Drafts of this edition were reviewed by many people: Our warm thanks for the thoughtful advice
 Drafts of this edition were reviewed by many people: Our warm thanks for the thoughtful advice
of Martha Ann Carey, Rick Ginsberg, David Marsh, Joseph Maxwell, Betty Miles, Renata Tesch,
Harry Wolcott, and an anonymous Sage reviewer. As with the first edition, we are grateful to each
other for the energy, stimulation, and productivity of our work in a demanding enterprise.
M. B. M.
A. M. H.
About the Authors
Matthew B. Miles, a social psychologist, had a career-long interest in strategies for educational
reform. His work focused on planned change in education, group and organizational studies, and the
dissemination and implementation of research findings. His first major research project was a 4-year
study of six new, innovative public schools.
A. Michael Huberman’s long-term interests were in scientific epistemology, and adult cognition
and knowledge use. His work focused on education policy, school reform, and the practical
translation of research knowledge into effective school practice. His first extensive project was a 4-
year study of an experimental elementary school’s implementation of Piagetian theories in classroom
practice.
Johnny Saldaña, a theatre educator, has explored qualitative research methodologies ranging
from coding to ethnodrama. His work focuses on young people’s and adults’ participation in, and
transformation through, the arts. His first qualitative research project was a 2½-year ethnography of a
beginning teacher’s experiences at an inner-city fine arts magnet school.
Miles and Huberman collaborated for many years on studies of the dissemination of educational
innovations and school improvement. In the course of a multisite study sponsored by the National
Institute of Education, they began a study of the procedures they were using to analyze data, which
provided the intellectual stimulus and the content of much of this book. Miles and Huberman led
seminars based on the book in the United States, Canada, Western Europe, and Australia.
Miles and Huberman’s work together and with other colleagues included the study of school
change agents, innovation in urban high schools, the social architecture of schools, teachers’ life
cycles, the use of scientific knowledge in vocational education, and educational reform in
Bangladesh, Ethiopia, New Zealand, and Colombia.
Saldaña’s studies have included child audience responses to theatre, teachers’ perceptions of
achievement standards, a survey of adults reflecting on their high school experiences, longitudinal
qualitative research methodology, and arts-based research methodologies, including ethnodramatic
and ethnotheatrical play production. Johnny Saldaña is the Evelyn Smith Professor of Theatre at
Arizona State University and the author of Sage Publications’ The Coding Manual for Qualitative
Researchers.