Foundations for a Gateway

Abstract

Previous chapters considered aspects of research that are characteristic of all qualitative investigations that use interviews as the primary means of data collection. A clearly framed guiding purpose, critical research questions, compatible researcher disposition and skill, and ethical conduct are requisites for the research, regardless of the particular methodology being employed. After these first factors have been considered, the path will lead some researchers to commit to in-depth interview research. For those investigators, the gateway approach offers a model for crossing the boundary of cause and consequence that separates individuals who have lived an experience from others who have not.