PART III: Practice: Chapter 14: The qualitative research process.

This article discusses the basic concepts of qualitative research process. Qualitative research is a heterogeneous area, as documented through a growing number of reference works. Nevertheless, it is possible to identify at least three distinctive features that are shared by most current work. First, it is the concept of meaning, its embedding in and orientation of social action, which serves as a common denominator for different schools of thought. A second assumption of qualitative research is that meaningful actions should be studied, as far as possible, in their naturalistic contexts. A third common feature of qualitative research concerns the role of the researcher, who is defined emphatically as an interpretive subject. In one sense, all research depends on the human subject as a primary instrument. What distinguishes qualitative from quantitative projects in this regard is a global and continuous form of interpretation. Whether in qualitative or quantitative traditions, an operationalization of concepts and issues in this broad sense is required. In order to identify key features of qualitative designs, it is useful to distinguish three aspects of research design which are strategy, tactics, and techniques.