Education and debate

Qualitative Research: Rigour and qualitative research

^a King's Fund Institute, London W2 4HT, ^b Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 6TP

Correspondence to: Mr Mays.

Various strategies are available within qualitative research to protect against bias and enhance the reliability of findings. This paper gives examples of the principal approaches and summarises them into a methodological checklist to help readers of reports of qualitative projects to assess the quality of the research.

Criticisms of qualitative research

In the health field--with its strong tradition of biomedical research using conventional, quantitative, and often experimental methods--qualitative research is often criticised for lacking scientific rigour. To label an approach "unscientific" is peculiarly damning in an era when scientific knowledge is generally regarded as the highest form of knowing. The most commonly heard criticisms are, firstly, that qualitative research is merely an assembly of anecdote and personal impressions, strongly subject to researcher bias; secondly, it is argued that qualiative research lacks reproducibility--the research is . . . [Full text of this article]

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Relevant Article

Acceptability of low molecular weight heparin thromboprophylaxis for inpatients receiving palliative care: qualitative study

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