Methodological Issues and Practices in Qualitative Research

Abstract

This article considers some methodological issues that arise when empirical inquiry is conducted within the framework of qualitative assumptions about the nature of reality and how we as humans can know it. These assumptions posit an empirical reality that is complex, intertwined, best understood as a contextual whole, and inseparable from the individuals-including the researchers--who know that reality. Four primary issues are considered in this article: the researcher as interpreter; the emergent nature of qualitative research; understanding the experience of others; and trustworthiness in qualitative research. Further, the article discusses methodological practices that have arisen in the context of qualitative assumptions and issues. The practices described are drawn from diverse qualitative research traditions, including participant observation, naturalistic inquiry, grounded theory, hermeneutic approaches to the interpretation of texts (and actions as texts), qualitative evaluation, and a body of methodological literature that calls itself generically "qualitative research." The goals of the article are threefold: (1) to present the internal rationale of qualitative research as issues and practices that arise within the context of assumptions about reality and what we can know about it; (2) to encourage researchers to examine the relevance of qualitative assumptions, issues, and practices to their own research problems; and (3) to point readers toward more detailed discussions of qualitative research.