Qualitative Methods: The State of the Art

Qualitative methods offer the researcher different approaches to a research problem. They offer alternatives in analytic approaches; cater to different disciplinary perspectives, assumptions, and agendas; provide a means to explore various levels of analysis, from micro-analytic to complex behaviors; and permit the development of the necessary level of conceptualization of results. Depending on the researcher’s question(s), any one or combinations of qualitative approaches offer the researcher the means to obtain optimal research results. In this article, the example of the experience of traumatic injury is used to explore research possibilities and to convey an appreciation for methodological diversity.