1. De?ne the term qualitative research and compare it with other terms, including naturalistic inquiry and ethnography. 2. Describe some of the assumptions underlying qualitative research and compare these assumptions with those underlying quantitative research. 3. Describe and select from various qualitative research methods. 4. Begin to be able to use qualitative research methods at a basic level in research studies. 5. Describe common problems in conducting—and evaluate the quality of—qualitative research studies. 6. Describe a few of the ethical issues involved in conducting qualitative research. 7. Describe issues related to analyzing and reporting qualitative ?ndings.

Designing qualitative studies is quite different from designing experimental studies. In fact, designs and methods are continually re?ned while the researcher conducts a qualitative study. Well-designed research is never easy to conduct. Qualitative research studies typically require considerably more time to design, collect, and analyze data and to report the results than do quantitative studies. Qualitative researchers choose their analysis methods not only by the research questions and types of data collected but also based on the philosophical approach underlying the study.