ABSTRACT
There is a wide selection of methods of analysis available to qualitative researchers. These methods can be used separately, but more likely they are used in combinations created by the researcher to fulfill a particular purpose. A good illustration of this is the study by Wolf (1987), who selected several analytical methods and assembled them into a procedure that “essentially grew out of our natural responses to the situations at hand: we were continually confronted with ‘puzzles’ to be solved” (p. 91). She said her team was not locked into any one procedure and this kept them flexible, which “allowed us to experiment with our guesses of how to solve the puzzles and then adapt our efforts to achieve maximal results” (p. 91). Further “it is impossible to duplicate the procedures used in this study because they emerged in vivo, as parts of a holistic process” (p. 91). This is typical of most qualitative research projects.
