Qualitative research strives to build up a theory by investigating and understanding social phenomena in their natural environments. During a qualitative research process, researchers focus on people’s behaviors, actions, and interactions. Research process aims to comprehensively understand human behaviors in their natural environments, which requires the researcher be flexible, re-arrange the research process in accordance with obtained data, adopt interpretive approach, and conduct data analysis through an inductive approach.

Unlike quantitative research, qualitative research is not composed of structured processes that a researcher can follow. Thus, a well-defined starting point or rigid procedures that a researcher should follow are not among the properties of a qualitative research process. Rather, it entails a flexible approach, and the research process can be re-arranged depending on circumstances emerging during the research process. Yet, during the planning stage, researchers should

1) form a theoretical framework as the foundational basis,

2) determine a systematic, manageable, and flexible research design, and,

3) turn the research into a meaningful, consistent, and reader-friendly report.