title: The quality of qualitative research.
abstract: In general, an appreciation of the standards of qualitative research and the types of qualitative data analyses available to researchers have not kept pace with the growing presence of qualitative studies in medical science. To help rectify this problem, the authors clarify qualitative research reliability, validity, sampling, and generalizability. They also provide 3 major theoretical frameworks for data collection and analysis that investigators may consider adopting. These 3 approaches are ethnography, existential phenomenology, and grounded theory. For each, the basic steps of data collection and analysis involved are presented, along with real-life examples of how they can contribute to improving medical care.
authors.affiliation: Intermountain Healthcare, Salt Lake City, Utah 84143, USA. david.collingridge@intermountainmail.org
authors.forename: Dave S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Collingridge
authors.forename: Edwin E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Gantt
mesh_terms: D000884:Anthropology, Cultural; D006801:Humans; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012107:Research Design / Q000592:standards*; D015983:Selection Bias