This book, an attempt to present a balanced view of qualitative methodology and research, is structured around classic texts by methodological pioneers. It examines these key premises in these texts. Chapters are: (1) "Strangeness and Familiarity"; (2) "From Over-Rapport to Intimacy and Autoethnography"; (3) "Whose Side Are We On?"; (4) "Participation Observation and Interviewing"; (5) "How Do You Know If Your Informant Is Telling the Truth?"; (6) "From Inference to Difference"; and (7) "From Styles of Reporting to Poetics and Beyond." A conclusion discusses "Communities and Change." (Contains 460 references.) (SLD)