The term qualitative methods refers to a variety of research techniques and procedures associated with the goal of trying to understand the complexities of the social world in which we live and how we go about thinking, acting, and making meaning in our lives. These research practices, which emphasize getting close to participants and trying to understand how they (and we) view the world, include, among others, participant observation, interviews, life histories, and focus groups; autoethnographic, phenomenological, narrative, and most ethnomethodological and feminist approaches; particular forms of documentary, content, discourse, and conversational analysis research; and some action research.

Qualitative researchers may be placed along a broad continuum ranging from an orientation akin to positivist science to one more akin to art and literature. In between is a vast middle ground where elements of both orientations are present. Moving along the qualitative continuum from science to art...