Evaluating qualitative research: past, present and future

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to outline certain currents in the assessment of qualitative research management and organizational research and briefly position this journal in relation to these developments. Design/methodology/approach – The argument draws upon contemporary debates about criteriology and its relation to underlying knowledge-constituting philosophical commitments that may be sometimes unnoticed. Findings – The need for a more permissive, pluralistic and reflexive approach to research evaluation that accepts difference and heterogeneity in qualitative research. Practical implications – The need for greater reflexivity on the part of research anyone evaluating research. Originality/value – The paper is of value to those who are engaged in various aspects of qualitative research evaluation either in terms of being evaluated or in terms of undertaking the evaluations.