Beginning anew: Doing qualitative research

This article reports on the author's first experience in qualitative resear ch. As a social scientist trained almost exclusively in quantitative method s, the author describes some of the difficulties, dilemmas, fears, challeng es, and rewards of conducting a study involving long intensive and relative ly unstructured interviews. The subject of the research - the association b etween religious faith and personal well-being - is of less importance here than the methodological insights that may be of use to other quantitativel y-oriented researchers who venture into qualitative work. Specifically, the paper discusses the place of the authorial voice, the salience of emotion and language in interview-based research, the need to reconceptualize the m eaning of common quantitative terms such as "data" and "analysis," Emd the challenges of communicating the results of the research in a very unfamilia r way.