Contemporary Dialogue

Abstract

A lot has been said and done in the tradition of qualitative research. Its history can be traced back to the 17th century when through ethnography, evidences had been recorded and reported (Vidich and Lyman, 2000). Qualitative research methods came to the fore during the 70’s and 80’s as a criticism to the then prevalent quantitative methods in research. The researcher in a qualitative research embraces a pivotal role. I perceive the tenets of qualitative research to be imbibed by its scholars. Therefore the framework can be best built keeping the researcher as central to the whole process. Henceforth, I present this paper from the vantage point of a qualitative researcher who must be thoroughly conversant with various aspects of qualitative research. In the sections that follow, an attempt has been made to decipher qualitative research in relation to the nature of inquiry, methodology and techniques that can be used. The issues of reliability, validity and ethics in this realm have been addressed under different sections.