The voice of people living with COPD: what I learned from doing qualitative research December 10, 2020 As a general respiratory physician, schooled in the clinical world of evidence-based medicine (EBM), I shared a common view that qualitative research was, well, flaky. Where was the science? The statistical significance? How could I apply this to my clinical work? Then, as part of a clinical research project looking at the potential benefits for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) of participation in a community-based singing group, I conducted a mixed-methods quantitative/qualitative study. [1] This is what I learned. I was fortunate to have an experienced qualitative researcher to show me the way and help me to understand the bewildering world of qualitative methodology. Through 12 one-to-one interviews and a focus group discussion, we explored how participating in a community singing group contributed to the health and wellbeing of people living with COPD. [1] The interviews and focus group were recorded and transcribed, so I then got to use some qualitative research software—QDA miner lite—to manage the data coding of the emerging concepts, themes, and ideas. [2]