Close encounters: exemplars of process-oriented qualitative research in health care

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Abstract
Qualitative and quantitative research approaches reflect different ‘world views’ and raise different questions for inquiry. In this article, we map several prominent features of the landscape of qualitative research by presenting a range of research exemplars in the fields of medicine and health care that focus on process, that is, on ‘What’s going on?’. We include studies of: clinical encounters between patients and health care providers; patients’ lived experiences in their social and cultural settings; institutional changes in training and practice; and public health care policy. Our approach is intended to show that there are many ways to do qualitative research, with exemplars chosen so as to be relevant to the specific questions asked and to the stance of the researcher. The diversity of topics, approaches and methods represented may help practitioners, educators, and researchers specify, clarify, elaborate and refine their domains of concern, and guide them in choosing appropriate and context-sensitive methods for their own inquiries.