Justifying Knowledge, Justifying Method, Taking Action: Epistemologies, Methodologies, and Methods in Qualitative Research

By S. Carter, M. Little. Qualitative Health Research, 2007

1,162 citations recorded by the source corpus.

In this article, the authors clarify a framework for qualitative research, in particular for evaluating its quality, founded on epistemology, methodology, and method. They define these elements and discuss their respective contributions and interrelationships. Epistemology determines and is made visible through method, particularly in the participant— researcher relationship, measures of research quality, and form, voice, and representation in analysis and writing. Epistemology guides methodological choices and is axiological. Methodology shapes and is shaped by research objectives, questions, and study design. Methodologies can prescribe choices of method, resonate with particular academic disciplines, and encourage or discourage the use and/or development of theory. Method is constrained by and makes visible methodological and epistemic choices. If we define good quality qualitative research as research that attends to all three elements and demonstrates internal consistency between them, standardized checklists can be transcended and innovation and diversity in qualitative research practice facilitated.

Subfields: Education, General Health Professions, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/31f7d88da5a5aaa3d36dc8d9279868df601111bb

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Citations in the corpus

Qualitative research in six sport and exercise psychology journals between 2010 and 2017: An updated and expanded review of trends and interpretations (2019, methodology): “…implications for the methods chosen (e.g. interviews, media/digital, visual methods) and for what purpose(s), types of analyses (e.g. narrative, grounded theory, content), and representation of findings (e.g. realist tale, evocative writing, visual, digital) (Carter & Little, 2007; Sparkes, 1998).”
(E)pistemological Awareness, Instantiation of Methods, and Uninformed Methodological Ambiguity in Qualitative Research Projects (2009, background): “For example, Carter and Little (2007) and Villaverde (2008) proposed that epistemologies and ideologies guide methodological choices. Furthermore, Pallas (2001) argued that epistemologies are essential to the construction and use of education research and that preparing researchers for epistemologic”
Qualitative Research in Sport Psychology Journals: The Next Decade 2000-2009 and Beyond (2012, methodology): “Based on the work of Carter and Little (2007), Schwandt (2001), and Silk, Andrews, and Mason (2005) the definition of epistemology that we employed for the current analysis is: The nature of knowledge, both how it is constructed and how it is represented.”
A Meta-Study of Black Male Mental Health and Well-Being (2010, background): “For instance, depending on the nature of the interview, the interviewers could potentially lead participants in the direction of a particular response as a result of their own study biases (Carter & Little, 2007; Polkinghorne, 2007).”
One size fits all? What counts as quality practice in (reflexive) thematic analysis? (2020, neutral): “Analytic procedures, including those centred on ensuring and demonstrating quality, typically reflect underlying paradigmatic and epistemological assumptions about meaningful knowledge and knowledge production (Carter and Little 2007), whether explicated or not.”
Characteristics of Qualitative Descriptive Studies: A Systematic Review (2016, neutral): “…phenomenology, ethnography, and narrative analysis, are used to better understand people's thoughts, behaviors, and situations regarding certain phenomena (Sullivan-Bolyai et al., 2005), as noted above, the results will likely read differently than those for a QD study (Carter & Littler, 2007).”