ABSTRACT
The use of qualitative methods in policy research is not new. Academic scholars and policy analysts have for some years been venturing out into the “fi eld” as ethnographers or participant-observers to study fi rst-hand the experiences of legislators, implementors, agency clients, community members, and other policy-relevant stakeholders. Others have based qualitative studies on in-depth interviews with various policy actors; and still other studies draw on legislative, agency, and other documents.
