ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces qualitative research, which is an inherently practical and pragmatic undertaking. It must then be the case, that even the muddiest recesses of qualitative methodology can be seen in ways that are practical and pragmatic. Qualitative research usually deals with spoken or written language. Qualitative research usually starts with a question like ‘how do people experience this particular health problem?’ Qualitative researchers sometimes talk of human experience yielding ‘deep’ or ‘information-rich’ data. Qualitative research is not just ‘one’ approach. In fact, there are a number of apparently different ‘approaches’ or ‘methodologies’ such as ‘Phenomenology’ and ‘Grounded Theory’. Qualitative research rests on a more or less philosophical understanding that developed within Anthropology, Sociology and Philosophy. Qualitative research largely accepts the interpretive approach. From the beginning, healthcare researchers viewed qualitative research pragmatically. Surely, qualitative research is always about rich data, explorations of meaning and experience.
