Emergent design
Emergent design is an integral part of all qualitative research yet it is rarely explicitly admitted outside the social sciences. The concept of an emergent design is based on the belief that the researcher ‘does not know what he or she doesn’t know’ (Lincoln and Guba, 1985, 209) at the beginning of a study. Therefore it would be impossible to estab lish the means by which the unknown could manifest itself to the researcher during the course of the study. Because of this, qualitative research allows the design to emerge as the study progresses. A research model can and should be developed that allows for the iterative nature of the study. It takes the form of a plan that maintains the focus of the study without restricting or limiting the use of individual techniques as they become apparent. This is one area in the investigation where the participants can be given a degree of con trol over the process, leading to a sense of ownership of the study: ‘The [interpretivist] paradigm affirms the mutual influence that researcher and respondents have on each other . . . never can formal methods be allowed to separate the researcher from the human interaction that is the heart of the research’(Erlandson et al., 1993, 15).