Qualitative research methods are used within special education research to provide insights about how and why phenomena occur. They can, however, be misunderstood and applied inappropriately. Our aim in this article is to provide an overview of qualitative methods, including their purpose, contributions to research involving students with learning disabilities, limitations, and quality indicators for methodological rigor. Additionally, we highlight common qualitative methods and data sources. We review a recent study that exemplifies the use of qualitative methods in the field. Our take-home message is that qualitative methods can provide valuable in-depth information about how and why phenomena occur, but they are not intended to support causal relationships or large-scale generalizability.

中文翻译：

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特殊教育研究中的定性方法

定性研究方法用于特殊教育研究，以提供有关现象发生方式和原因的见解。但是，它们可能会被误解和应用不当。我们在本文中的目的是概述定性方法，包括它们的目的、对涉及学习障碍学生的研究的贡献、局限性以及方法严谨性的质量指标。此外，我们强调了常见的定性方法和数据源。我们回顾了最近的一项研究，该研究举例说明了在该领域使用定性方法。我们的主要信息是，定性方法可以提供有关现象发生方式和原因的有价值的深入信息，但它们并非旨在支持因果关系或大规模普遍性。