Well, you are not alone in your confusion. As far as I know, no one has copy rights on the term so it ends up meaning a variety of things for a variety of people. Meta-analyses of qualitative research methods and philosophies are quite common in the field and serve as good introductions to this diversification of approach.
Qualitative research is synonymous with ethnographic and participant observation methods.
Qualitative research is polysemous when it comes to method. Much of qualitative research is dominated by research traditions from education, sociology, and anthropology. The researchers from these fields favor such methods as ethnography, participant observation, and naturalistic inquiry. Qualitative research is conducted from a scientific perspective. Qualitative research can be conducted from a number of contexts.