In the fourth edition of this bestselling book, John W. Creswell and new co-author Cheryl N. Poth explore the philosophical underpinnings, history, and key elements of each of five qualitative inquiry traditions: narrative research, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, and case study, putting them side by side to highlight the differences. The authors relate research designs to each of the traditions of inquiry. They compare theoretical frameworks and ways to employ standards of quality, as well as strategies for writing introductions to studies, collecting data, analyzing data, writing a narrative, and verifying results. New in this edition: updated materials on each tradition, more on interpretive frameworks and ethics, more visual depictions of the five approaches, and two new topical articles in Chapter 5, reproduced in full in the appendices.