Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Grounding Qualitative Medical Research In Coherence, Not Standards, Carol Isaac, Linda Behar-Horenstein

The Qualitative Report

Qualitative research publications have become more prominent in medical journals. However, in medical discourse, those researchers who are adhere to postpositivist (quantitative) paradigm often criticize diverse qualitative inquiry for a perceived lack of rigor. We suggest that qualitative research, just like quantitative research should be guided by methodological coherence rather than prescriptive standards. Coherence is defined as an alignment between epistemology, theoretical perspective, methodology, methods, and research questions. In the medical field, a lack of training in methodological diversity, a long-held post-positivist privileging, and insufficient methodological dialogue, promulgates reliance on quantitative analyses. Neglecting to articulate sufficient methodological detail has caused …