My friend suggested this book to me when my thesis adviser told me to get a book on qualitative research as I was trying to design my study of a newspaper and its relationships with strategic publics. In this book Creswell clearly and logically lays out five different qualitative research traditions (1. a biographical life history; 2. a phenomenology; 3. a grounded theory study; 4, an ethnography; and 5. a case study). Creswell guides researchers on the rationale for each method, the design, and corresponding data collection, analysis and narrative report, while giving ample references for further reading in one's chosen tradition. Particularly helpful are the appendices that include example studies of each methodology.

I needed other sources to supplement what I learned here, but this book really gave me an excellent foundation with which to proceed. I recommend it to anyone who is trying to design a qualitative study and isn't sure where to start.