Abstract
Qualitative research is the term given to the branch of scientific research that emphasizes the collection and study of perceptions and experiences — the “stories” — of living people. Stories are powerful. Some years ago, I was sitting in the treatment trailer at a city jail listening to women receiving acupuncture detoxification (detox) talk about their lives, their addictions, and their experiences of acupuncture care. All of it was interesting. But near the end of the visit, one woman uttered a few poignant words that encapsulated everyone’s hopes and reminded the practitioners of their deep task: “I chose acupuncture because I figured if a needle got me into this mess in the first place, maybe a needle could get me out.”
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Cassidy, C.M. (2001). Beyond Numbers: Qualitative Research Methods for Oriental Medicine. In: Stux, G., Hammerschlag, R. (eds) Clinical Acupuncture. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-56732-2_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-56732-2_9
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