While most graduate students in the social sciences now receive training in both quantitative and qualitative research methods, previously many researchers only received formal training in one of these research domains. The author has spent the past 15 years since graduate school conducting traditional logical positivist survey research and thus was able to grow as a researcher when she recently undertook an inductive, exploratory, qualitative interview study with service providers who work with sexual assault survivors. The article details her preparation for the interview study and her struggles to establish rapport with participants she only just met. The author describes the role she took on as an interviewer trying to gain knowledge from a group of professionals and discusses her feelings toward the different types of interview participants. The unexpected turns and ethical dilemmas that often rear their head during the course of qualitative research are also examined followed by a consideration of the scope of qualitative research projects. Overall, the experience of conducting a qualitative interview study broadened the author’s research skills and gave her an appreciation for the depth of work involved in qualitative research and the richness of data these methods could yield. References