ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book proceeds from theoretical to practical matters. It discusses a proposal for a research programme which, in order to meet its self-declared goal to study values using qualitative methods, would have to clarify some other issues first. The book describes how values defined in the social sciences so far, and constructs a definition of values which takes into account philosophical and ethical arguments and works well in qualitative research settings. It deals with specific issues which may be perceived as stumbling blocks to studying values with qualitative methods. The book explores values as those states of being which matter to us and which one care about transsituatively and transsubjectively. It discusses the practice-focused programme found useful for novice and seasoned fieldworkers alike, and for scholars with research interests which are only distally related to values.
