This four-volume set is part of the Fundamentals of Applied Research series and sits alongside Stephen Gorard's major reference collection Quantitative Research Methods in Education. It brings together seminal and cutting edge articles on qualitative research internationally, and shows how the field has developed in influence in recent years. The use of qualitative research methods in educational research has a long and distinguished history, both in the UK and internationally. Importantly, this major reference collection reviews the ongoing debates and various issues about qualitative methods and the contribution they make to understanding educational issues. The set also comprises a timely analysis of the contribution which qualitative methods have made and can continue to make to understanding educational issues. The volumes review the methodological arguments for using qualitative methods, including critiques and rejoinders; place these arguments in appropriate historical and epistemological contexts with respect to the development of qualitative methods in congruent disciplines including anthropology, psychology and sociology; and identify key examples of leading substantive work which illustrate the various issues at stake and the major achievements of qualitative inquiry in education.