ABSTRACT
This chapter examines three claims that are frequently made about the distinctiveness of qualitative research and found them to be seriously misleading. These claims include the following: qualitative research is inductive; qualitative research is natural; and qualitative research allows one to capture the understandings and meanings that make people behave as they do. While all three myths incorporate some important truths, each presents distorted pictures of both qualitative and quantitative research. They exaggerate differences between these two traditions and downplay their common ground. Such polarization is particularly unhelpful in the health field, limiting as it does the potential for combining research methods in useful and creative ways. The differences between qualitative and quantitative research create the greatest potential for positive and beneficial cooperation between these two traditions. Qualitative research is able to contribute to knowledge in ways that are different from and complementary to the contributions of quantitative research.
