In this, the first of a three-volume paperback version of the landmark Handbook of Qualitative Research, editors Norman K Denzin and Yvonna S Lincoln survey the field of qualitative research from a wide-ranging theoretical perspective. Part One locates the field, providing historical context as well as background on applied qualitative research, the `self′ and the `other′, and the politics and ethics of qualitative inquiry. Part Two examines the major paradigms that inform and influence qualitative research in the human disciplines. Part Three considers the future of qualitative research.