Recent years have witnessed accelerated scientific progress in all scientific fields. The scientific advances are the results of scientific researches. But research methods are also experiencing a lot of changes and improvements. The purpose of this research is to give consideration to the qualitative research methods and common paradigms with their qualitative evaluation criteria; because it is believed that the development of quality research will help to develop comprehensive knowledge in the field of humanities. Theoretical and philosophical understanding of qualitative research can encourage humanities scholars to evaluate and use the qualitative methods in order to influence on their performances. This may involve a paradigm shift in thinking for some people. For this purpose, the fundamental principles of two common scientific paradigms namely positivism/post positivism and interpretive paradigm are raised. Then, the relationship of paradigmatic foundations and methodology are presented. Common methodologies in qualitative research, such as, grounded theory, case studies, phenomenology, ethnography and narration are studied. In what follows, data collection methods including individual interviews, focus groups, observation and document analysis are explained. Finally, the strategies of increasing the quality of qualitative research are examined and then compared with the quantity research strategies.
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