"We always tell students that "You need to be interested in people's stories if you want to do qualitative research." You can't fake that part. This is actually how Sandra became curious about qualitative research methods; she has always been intrigued by people and their lives. It was in graduate school during a qualitative research methods class that she realized her interest in people's stories was best approached using qualitative research. Qualitative research is a complex confluence of methods for empirical observation of meanings and materials situated within particular sites or texts, which cuts across multiple paradigmatic approaches to the study of communication and media. We begin with this definition of qualitative research as it is foundational to our approach to and teaching of qualitative methods"--