After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Define qualitative research.
2. Distinguish between the holistic perspectives of qualitative and quantitative research.
3. Understand the three prominent theoretical perspectives of qualitative researchers.
4. Identify the steps involved in qualitative research.
5. Describe the four possible roles of the qualitative researcher.
6. Distinguish between the different types of sampling procedures for qualitative research.
7. List the three main types of data collection in qualitative research.
8. Describe how qualitative observations are different from quantitative observations.
9. Identify three key questions of concern for the use of the Internet as a method for selecting samples in qualitative research.