This chapter provides a foundational understanding of qualitative research, delineating its essential characteristics and the place of NVivo in the analytic process. The chapter shows the flexibility inherent in qualitative methods and their adaptability across various academic disciplines. The chapter defines qualitative inquiry as a type of research that has the ability to accommodate complex social phenomena by focusing on naturalistic settings, where researchers seek to interpret phenomena through the meanings that people assign to them. Additionally, the chapter touches upon the contested role of software in qualitative research, discussing both the advantages and potential pitfalls of digital tools in qualitative methodologies.