The organization of the Handbook moves from the general to the specific, the past to the present. Part I locates the field, starting with history, then moving to applied qualitative research traditions, studying the other, and the politics and ethics of field research. Part II isolates what we regard as the major historical and contemporary paradigms now structuring and influencing qualitative research in the human disciplines. Part III isolates the major strategies of inquiry - historically the research methods - that researchers can utilize in concrete studies. The history and uses of these strategies are extensively explored in 11 chapters. Part IV examines methods of collecting and analyzing empirical materials. It moves from interviewing to observation; to the use of artifacts, documents, and records from the past; to visual, personal experience; to data management, computerized, narrative, content, and semiotic methods of analysis. Part V takes up the art of interpretation. Part VI speculates on the future and promise of qualitative research.