This book is a simple and practical introduction to such qualitative methods as archival research, content analysis, oral history, the ethnolinguistic method, participative research, case studies, group process diagnosis, participant observation, process documentation, and the ethnographic method. Each chapter provides the rationale for the method under discussion and illustrations of how the method has been and can be used.

Intended as a "how to" book for junior researchers and for undergraduate and graduate students just beginning to attempt primary research, Introduction to qualitative research methods is presented in such a way as to encourage researchers to try out the method most congenial to their temperament and circumstances in life and to learn more about it through the actual exciting experience of research.