Qualitative Research in Clinical Epidemiology.

This chapter provides an overview of qualitative research approaches in the study of health, disease, and health service delivery and summarizes important considerations when designing research studies to address questions that ask the "how," "why," or "what" of a particular issue. As qualitative research encompasses distinct methodologies, brief descriptions of the main approaches and examples from the literature are provided. Guidance on how to evaluate quality in the design and reporting of qualitative studies is also discussed.