This article aims to explore the methodological and analytical benefits of mobilizing field diaries when doing fieldwork research. Fieldwork necessitates spending months or years living and sharing the lives of those we are studying. It is thus about interactions and access, about emotions and power relations. Field diaries are particularly…

Reflexivity involves the researcher's attentiveness to cultural aspects of the research context. In this article, I deconstruct scenarios from a reflexive diary and interpret how these scenarios respond to an insider-outsider positionality that is determined by my cultural identity, profession, gender and educational background. I examine…

The practice of prospectively registering the details of intervention studies in a public database or registry is gaining momentum across disciplines as a strategy for increasing the transparency, credibility, and accessibility of study findings. In this article, we consider five registries that may be relevant for registration of intervention…

Consultation relies on story. This is true for researchers, for practitioners, and for clients. Given this fact, qualitative and mixed methods (QMM) research are particularly well suited to listening to the stories that compose the clinical practice of consultation in order to extend understanding and to support improvement and innovation. In this…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a framework intended to guide students and novice researchers in learning about the necessary dimensions for assessing the rigour of qualitative research studies. The framework has four dimensions -- (T)rustworthiness, (A)uditability, (C)redibility and (T)ransferability. The development of TACT is…

Intended to guide scholars who are new to qualitative research, this methods brief focuses mostly on what reviewers look for in manuscripts submitted for publication. The author acknowledges that reviewers' preferences likely reflect their theoretical perspectives, research-oriented coursework, mentors, and research and writing experiences. The…

In most qualitative research studies involving the creation of interview transcriptions, researchers seldom demonstrate much reflexivity about the transcription process, rarely making mention of transcription processes as part of their reporting of data collection and analysis procedures beyond a simple statement that audio- or videotaped data…

Teaching and learning research in higher education, often referred to as the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), is still relatively novel in many academic contexts compared to the mainstay of disciplinary research. One indication of this is the challenges those who engage in SoTL report in terms of how this work is valued or considered…

When developing case studies within a longitudinal study of special educational needs provision within the Republic of Ireland, the authors were conscious of the critiques of the use of this approach within educational research. The difficulties associated with generalisation, challenges of ensuring trustworthiness and the possibilities of…

In April and May of 2012, the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) Research conducted a survey of users of archives to learn more about their habits and preferences. In particular, they focused on the roles that social media, recommendations, reviews, and other forms of user-contributed annotation play in archival research. OCLC surveyed faculty,…

Due to the variations of design and protocol in qualitative inquiry, researchers may inadvertently create problems for themselves in terms of the trustworthiness of their research. Miscommunication between participants and researchers can especially arise from the unique and unpredictable nature of human dynamics. In this paper I contend that such…

Newcomers to the qualitative method encounter a seemingly bewildering array of issues when taking their first steps in tackling a project of this type. Novices may well be confused by matters on which even expert commentators disagree and may find themselves confronting situations in which they realise that, by attending to one criterion, their…

This highly readable text demystifies the qualitative research process--and helps readers conceptualize their own studies--by organizing the different research paradigms and traditions into coherent clusters. Real-world examples and firsthand perspectives illustrate the research process; instructive exercises and activities build on each other so…

The harm that can transpire during and after the fieldwork phase of research is examined, and the ethical obligations of qualitative researchers to respond are explored. Recognition that research has the potential to harm has led the research community to develop philosophical guidelines for ethical conduct. Qualitative researchers have also…

In conducting research, the identified problem in the field will determine the research strategies chosen to address the problem. When a qualitative research strategy is deemed as the most appropriate strategy to get answers to research questions, the researcher should be aware of obstacles that can be encountered in the research process. If the…