Qualitative methods: The state of the art

Qualitative methods offer the researcher different approaches to a research problem. They offer alternatives in analytic approaches; cater to differen t disciplinary perspectives, assumptions, and agendas; provide a means to e xplore various levels of analysis,from microanalytic to complex behaviors; and permit the development of the necessary level of conceptualization ion of results. Depending on the researcher's question(s), any one or combinati ons of qualitative approaches offer the researcher the means to obtain opti mal research results. lit this article, the example of the experience of tr aumatic injury is used to explore research possibilities and to convey art appreciation for methodological diversity.