A Narrative Approach to Qualitative Inquiry

摘要

When selecting a research design, such as quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods, Patton (2002) suggested reflecting on the purpose of the inquiry and the types of answers you seek.1 Qualitative methods allow the researcher to study issues in depth with data collection often occurring through open-ended questions permitting "one to understand and capture the points of view of other people without predetermining those points of view through prior selection of questionnaire categories".1 Results include a wealth of detailed information about a small number of people; therefore, leading to an increase in the depth of understanding of these select individuals.