The Handbook is the first attempt to synthesize the huge amount of activity and change there has been in recent years in qualitative research. Contributors to this authoritative volume come from a diverse range of disciplines and countries, making it an essential resource and benchmark for anyone doing work in this international, interdisciplinary tradition. The book moves from the theoretical to the specific, examining the various paradigms for doing qualitative work, the strategies developed for studying people in their setting, and a variety of techniques for collecting, analyzing, interpreting and reporting findings. Issues of history, ethics, settings and the future of the discipline - both in traditional and ap