Getting out of Procrustes' bed: The needs and benefits of qualitative research in stuttering

Qualitative research has a vast potential for understanding complex issues such as stuttering, and is becoming more common in that research field. The purpose of this article is to highlight the potential benefits of qualitative research in stuttering through exploration of four different research paradigms and their knowledge claims. Through this explanation, a case is built for the benefits of applying qualitative methods to stuttering research. Questions such as “how” a certain behavior or process take places, rather than just “if” a certain behavior or process takes place, are possible within the qualitative paradigm. It is concluded that future knowledge about stuttering and its treatment will be well served by applying the most appropriate investigative methods to it rather than by attempting to establish information with a restricted set of quantitative approaches.