Understanding and Reporting Qualitative Research

Qualitative research methodology is an often misunderstood and underutilized set of philosophies, approaches, and procedures that lends itself quite readily to the study of phenomena of substantial interest to rehabilitation researchers, research consumers, and individuals with disabilities. For that reason, we propose general guidelines for developing and preparing manuscripts to be submitted for journal publication. We discuss important elements to address in introducing the study, describing the research methods, presenting the findings, and discussing the findings. Throughout the article, we use examples from qualitative research articles to illustrate both the process and reporting of qualitative research.