1. The Quality of Qualitative
Research
Uwe Flick
Alice-Salomon-University
of Applied Sciences Berlin
Flick@asfh-berlin.de

2. What is qualitative research
and are we referring to?
Theoretical and methodological schools
Local approaches and schools
Discipline-specific developments
Different fields of application
– Qualitative health research
– Qualitative evaluation
Same answers to the quality question
across the various areas and contexts?
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3. Quality of qualitative research
Still an unanswered question
Answers expected from outside
Answers needed for further establishing
qualitative research
Answers needed for reassuring qualitative
research in times of evidence and mixed
methods
One size fits all?
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4. Four ways to answer the question of
quality in qualitative research
To apply the traditional criteria
To reformulate traditional criteria like
validity and reliability
To design new appropriate criteria
To use strategies of promoting quality
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5. Answer I:
Traditional
Criteria
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6. Reliability, validity and
objectivity
are strongly based on standardisation
of methods and situations
are based on concepts like
repeatability
are based on a detachment of the
person of the researcher
are incompatible with the degrees of
freedom, of flexibility, and of non-
standardisation of qualitative research
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7. Answer II:
Reformulation of
Traditional
Criteria
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8. Validation in Qualitative
Research
Communicative validation
Pragmatic validation
To validate is to question
To validate is to check
To validate is to theorise (Kvale 2007)
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9. Answer III:
New
Criteria
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10. Credibility of Qualitative
Research
Prolonged engagement and persistent
observation in the field and triangulation
Peer debriefing
The analysis of negative cases
Appropriateness of the terms of reference
of interpretations and their assessment;
Member checks (Lincoln and Guba 1985)
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11. Criteria for Grounded Theory
Credibility
Originality
Resonance
Usefulness (Charmaz 2006)
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12. Credibility as Criterion?
Benchmark problem
How much credibility needed?
Member checks: all members‘ or some
members‘consent?
Criterion or bona fides?
Criteria or strategies?
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13. Quality in Qualitative Evaluation
Research should be
contributory in advancing wider knowledge
defensible in design by providing a research
strategy which can address the evaluation
questions posed
rigorous in conduct through the systematic and
transparent collection, analysis and
interpretation of qualitative data
credible in claim through offering well-founded
and plausible arguments about the significance
of the data generated (Spencer et al. 2003).
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14. Answer IV:
Strategies
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15. Triangulation
Different methods also for collecting data
Equal weighting of methods or approaches
Systematic use of different methods
Integration/reflection of the theoretical
backgrounds of the different methods
Addressing different levels, for example:
– subjective meaning and social structure
– process and state,
– knowledge and activity
– knowledge and discourse
Purposeful choice and use of methods
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16. Quality Management in Qualitative
Research
a definition of the goals to be reached and the standards
of the project to be kept, which should be as clear as
possible; all researchers and co-workers have to be
integrated in this definition;
a definition, how to reach these goals and standards and
more generally: the quality to be obtained; a consensus
about the way how to apply certain methods maybe
through joint interview trainings and their analysis, are
preconditions for quality in the research process;
a clear definition of the responsibilities for obtaining
quality in the research process and
the transparency of the judgement and the assessment
and quality in the process.
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17. Indication in
Psychotherapy and Medicine
Which disease which
which symptoms treatment
indicate
which diagnosis or
which population therapy?
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18. Indication in
Qualitative Research
Which issue which
which population method(s)
which research question
indicate
or
which knowledge
which
of issue and
population combination of
methods?
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19. Indication in
Qualitative Research
When is/are which method(s)
appropriate and indicated?
Are there criteria for a rational decision for
or against specific methods?
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20. Sound qualitative research ..
... is based on previous research and refers to state-of-the-
art theoretical, methodological and topic-related literature.
In this sense it stands „on the shoulder of giants“.
– What about explanatory research, new fields and
grounded theory research in the strict sense of the
word?
... is clearly linked to a social scientific theory like Symbolic
Interactionism, Ethnomethodology, Cultural Representation
Theory, Hermeneutics, Phenomenology, Discourse Theory
or the like.
– These are not theories in the strict sense of the word
(as far as concerning our context) but research
perspectives, which are taken on an issue (or field …)
under study.
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21. Sound qualitative research ..
... uses only data appropriate within the framework of the
particular theory and applies corresponding methods for
analysis and interpretation.
– This statement is too much theory-driven: Shouldn’t the
research perspective be appropriate to the issue under
study and then only data be used that are appropriate to
the issue under study?
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22. Sound qualitative research ..
Depending on the particular theory and methods used
qualitative research presents an “emic” as well as an “etic”
perspective. Including the subjective or “native” point of
view does not discharge the researcher from the task of
developing and defending his/her own interpretation which
may or may not correspond to that of the research
subjects.
– Nevertheless, it may be appropriate to seek member’s
consensus or disagreement for results or evaluations
coming from qualitative research, depending on
purpose and issue of the research
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23. Sound qualitative research ..
... is neither partisan nor indifferent toward social problems,
but it aims at differentiating scientific analysis from
personal and political stance on a given topic. Qualitative
research reveals the complexity of the social world instead
of lending itself to simplifications.
– In the context of practical/political use (and relevance)
of qualitative research it may be necessary to elaborate
qualitative results in a way that allows a political
argumentation or decision and to condense them in a
way that they are comprehensible and relevant for non-
researchers if we want to become/remain relevant with
our research.
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24. Sound qualitative research ..
.... is contextualised and the relevant information
considering the concrete context is provided (without
jeopardising the anonymity of informants, organisations
etc.). Generalisations of results beyond this context must
be discussed.
– Internal generalizability refers to the generalizability of a
conclusion within the setting or group studied, while
external generalizability refers to its generalizability
beyond that setting or group (Maxwell 2005, p. 115).
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25. 18./19. 4. 2008 Uwe Flick - Bern 25

26. Types, Goals and Interest
groups ...

27. Who may be interested ..
Three answers given:
– Anyone, who ....
– A circular answer: .... qualitative research methods are
relevant for those, whose research question can be
answered with the relevant qualitative approach and for
which appropriate data are available.
– It depends ... As there are not enough common
characteristics in qualitative research
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28. Who may be interested ..
Three possible answers
– Those who are interested in fields or topics,
which are not well accessible for other forms of
data
– Those who are interested in having a
comprehensive range of approaches and tools
for social research
– Those, who are interested in exploring new
fields, finding new insights
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29. Types of qualitative methods
As the examples of interviews and textual data
show, we should distinguish between:
– Data collection
In this step the interview is a qualitative method depending on
how it is applied, but not on how it is analysed in the end
– Data analysis
Other forms of data are mostly transferred into texts when it
comes to analysis (oral data are transcribed, sooner or later,
images are described and analysed by using words and texts
– Writing about data and findings
Any presentations has to be reductionistic in some way, if the
reader shall grasp the message of the report. It depends rather
on how adequate the selected form of reductionism is to what is
under study - in collecting, analysing and presenting the data.
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30. Types of qualitative methods
Inductive and deductive approaches
– Good qualitative research is always a combination of
induction (in the beginning) and deduction (along the
way)
– Research always starts from some assumptions about
the field and the issue, it depends rather on how far
these assumptions are made explicit and subject of
revision against the data
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31. Goals of qualitative methods
The major goal should be to use methods that are
appropriate to issues under study, but also to the
fields and participants where these issues are
studied
– Indication of methods starts from selecting the
appropriate ones from the existing range of methods
and approaches or from developing new ones if
necessary
Do methods have goals?
– What are the goals of researchers which are normally
linked with using specific qualitative methods?
– Which methods allow (support, facilitate etc.) to pursue
which goals more adequately?
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32. Teaching Qualitative
Methodology

33. Goals of Teaching
MA/PhD level:
– Critical selection and reflection of a variety of
research methods for one‘s own research
project
– Independent use of (a variety of) methods for
one‘s own research
In general:
– Combination of an overview and of practical
application of selected examples
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34. Goals of Teaching
Bachelor level in applied areas:
– Ability to understand research examples and
to distinguish good from bad research
– Ability to apply a certain number of methods
for answering a limited research questions in
a thesis
MA/PhD level:
– Critical selection and reflection of a variety of
research methods for one‘s own research
project
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