THE QUALITY OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH: FROM EVALUATION TO ATTAINMENT

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe objective of this paper is to emphasize the importance of quality in the research process instead of its valuation afterwards, an issue the literature has given extensive attention to. In addition, it is a reflection on the debate about the quality of qualitative research and presents the assessment of quality as a situated practice. Reflexivity is presented not as a criterion to assess the research quality but as an instrument to achieve it. There are three characteristics of qualitative research that researchers need to pay reflexive attention to. The first is that qualitative studies deal with human experiences; the second that these experiences are subjective; and the third that qualitative knowledge is ideographic and constructed during the study. Beyond these characteristics, issues are signaled that are constantly repeated in the studies and that unknowingly are a threat to their quality are addressed in this paper.