ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the kinds of research enterprise to which qualitative methods are particularly well suited and the ways in which they can be used alongside contributions from quantitative methods. It also explores the real differences between these methods. Qualitative methods are particularly useful in providing rigorous descriptions of practice and the organizational contexts in which it occurs. Qualitative researchers develop skills in examining the routine, everyday, and taken-for-granted aspects of the settings they study. The flexibility of qualitative research designs offers particularly useful opportunities for uncovering aspects of situations that are discrepant with researchers' or practitioners' prior assumptions. This flexibility in research design reflects the emphasis that qualitative researchers place on discovery. Qualitative research's flexibility and orientation to discovery point to a further way in which it may profitably be combined with quantitative research.
