ABSTRACT
Qualitative research is a most lively signifi er. It is used to indicate a set of text-based or observational methods that are themselves used as companions to quantitative methods (Wilk, 2001). It is used to point to an independent set of methodologies that can be used with or without quantitative methods, but remain within the same epistemological framework (e.g., Chick, 2000). Finally it is used to designate an entirely different paradigm of science that is not only independent of quantitative methods but also of its epistemological foundation (Denzin & Lincoln, 1994).
