Develop a hypothesis or area of research that you want to study. Decide what you would like to examine.
Conduct background research in this area. Ask yourself whether other researchers have answered your questions and what new information or approach you can bring to the topic.
Create a proposal for your research that outlines what you will study and how you will approach the topic. The proposal should summarize existing research, your approach, what method you will use, who you will interview and how you will make contact with your interview subjects. It should also provide a timeline and budget. This is especially important if you must seek funding for your research.
Complete and submit an Institutional Review Board (IRB) proposal. IRBs examine the ethics of your research if it involves human participants, which almost all qualitative research does. You must include consent forms, a statement on participants' risk, if any, as well as methods and a detailed list of questions to be asked. This is required for all funded research and for unfunded or funded academic and health studies.
Make contacts in the community you wish to study if you don't already have them. Use a "snowball technique" for unfamiliar communities. This involves each contact providing more names of participants to you, until you have enough interviewees.
Conduct your research using the pre-determined tools. Qualitative methods often take longer than anticipated because the work is in-depth.
Reflect upon your research. Consider what you've learned and what themes emerged, and how the information can be used. If you're using participatory methods, meet with your interviewees and find out if they see the same conclusions you do.
Write a report on your research. This could be an essay, dissertation or thesis if it is for school. For business or government it might be a white paper or policy statement.
Publish your work. For academics, there is always pressure to produce publishable work--hence the saying, "Publish or perish." Qualitative research often is meant to create social change. Sharing the results is crucial.