Are qualitative methods misunderstood?
Qualitative research methods are increasingly utilised by health researchers. Along with this the criteria for assessing the quality of qualitative research are changing from a natural science model to an interpretative social science model. This is a product of the realisation by health researchers that qualitative methods utilise a different epistemology to statistical methods. I demonstrate that a recent article in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health draws on a now outdated natural science methodology of assessing bias in focus groups. Drawing on interpretativist social science theory and recent work in the British Medical Joumal I argue for the importance of examining the social contexts through which qualitative data is produced.
Ezzy
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University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia. Douglas.Ezzy@utas.edu.au
D000739:Anecdotes as Topic; D001315:Australia; D015982:Bias; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D017144:Focus Groups; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D015233:Models, Statistical