How to Ensure Quality in Qualitative Approach

Running Head: HOW TO ENSURE QUALITY IN QUALITATIVE APPROACH 1
How to ensure Quality in Qualitative Approach
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HOW TO ENSURE QUALITY IN QUALITATIVE APROACH 2
How to ensure Quality in Qualitative Approach
Teherani, Martimianakis, Stenfors-Hayes, Wadhwa & Varpio (2015) describe qualitative
research as a method where the researcher systematically investigates a social phenomenon
under its natural settings. The quantitative method of study is probably the most common method
where the main aim is to find out the number of people who undertake a particular behaviour.
The qualitative approach is an extension to this, and as Sutton & Austin (2015) points, the
researcher accesses the thoughts of individuals enabling them to understand why people
undertake a particular behaviour. Therefore, qualitative studies allow a deeper understanding of a
specific social occurrence by acquiring personal insights, perceptions from participants as
compared to quantitative studies which seek to find out the magnitude of the phenomenon.
(Patton, 2015) In qualitative studies, the focus is on intangible aspects of a particular issue such
as beliefs and opinions. However, as Yardley (2016) points, this unique nature of this
methodology means that it defers various conventional rules and principles of research thereby
raising serious quality concerns. This paper will, therefore, conduct an in-depth discussion on the
qualitative research concept, assess the quality concerns prevailing and ways to solve these
concerns.
Common criticisms
While there is a common wide acceptance of qualitative research design as an appropriate
method of research particularly in the social sciences field, the approach has had its share of
criticism. A common criticism levelled against qualitative research is that it cannot be
generalised (Fitzpatrick, 2011). A key objective of every research undertaking is that broad
inferences can be drawn from the study that can then be inferred to the broader population.
However, as Leung (2015) points, generalisation usually is an unexpected attribute in qualitative

HOW TO ENSURE QUALITY IN QUALITATIVE APROACH 3
research. Generalisation is a vital quality standard that research studies should meet. For
generalisation to apply, the particular conditions in the study such as the sample population
statistics, context, and time have to be similar to the states in the broader population. However, in
qualitative research, the sharp focus is on acquiring deep contextualized understandings of
particular cases which in most cases does not represent the general population (Patton, 2015). As
Leung (2015) notes, in qualitative studies, a particular phenomenon is studied in a specific
locality or distinct ethnic group. Therefore, the findings cannot be applied to the broader public.
The lack of generalisation then raises serious questions regarding the feasibility of qualitative
research and the rationale of dedicating time and resources towards a study that cannot be
generalised. As Laws, Harper, Jones & Marcus (2013) further note, it is difficult to acquire
funding for the same as major organisations such as the UN only fund studies that allow
generalisation. Therefore, the lack of generalizability for qualitative research is a crucial issue.
Validity and reliability are essential quality thresholds for any research undertaking.
According to Leung (2015) validity entails the suitability of the various processes,
methodologies and data applied to the research while reliability is about the consistency of the
results and their replicability. The drawback with qualitative research is that there are no
common universal criteria for assessing the validity and reliability of a study. In quantitative
studies, there are established standards for testing the validity and reliability of research.
However, for qualitative research designs, validity and reliability are determined by the
precautions applied by the researcher to guarantee the two quality aspects. For example, in an
element such as sampling, in quantitative research, there is a guiding criterion on what sample
size and features would be appropriate for a particular population. This is not the case for
qualitative research with the method heavily relying on the researcher’s ability to identify the