This study examines 83 IS qualitative studies in leading IS journals for the following purposes: (a) identifying the extent to which IS qualitative studies employ best practices of justifying sample size; (b) identifying optimal ranges of interviews for various types of qualitative research; and (c) identifying the extent to which cultural factors (such as journal of publication, number of auth...

a bstract   background: qualitative research focuses on social world and provides the tools to study health phenomena from the perspective of those experiencing them. identifying the problem, forming the question, and selecting an appropriate methodology and design are some of the initial challenges that researchers encounter in the early stages of any research project. these problems are parti...

Although qualitative studies have increased since the 1990s, some reports note that relatively few influential journals published them up until 2000. This study critically reviewed the characteristics of qualitative studies published in top tier medical journals since 2000. We assessed full texts of qualitative studies published between 2000 and 2004 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, BMJ, JAM...

With recent calls for expanding the scope and rigor of engineering education research, use of qualitative methods to answer research questions that can not be answered through quantitative methods is taking on increasing significance. Well-designed qualitative studies often build on epistemological consistency across theoretical perspectives, research questions, and research methods. We examine...

The aims of this paper were to clarify the nature and purpose of qualitative research and to suggest specific guidelines for reporting the results of qualitative studies. Confusion about the purpose of qualitative research and the absence of a standardized format for reporting such research make it difficult to assess the validity of qualitative studies. Four general purposes of qualitative res...

On observing how qualitative and quantitative studies are reported in the biomedical literature it becomes evident that, besides the virtual absence of the former, they are presented in different ways. Authors of qualitative studies seem to need almost invariably to explain why they choose a qualitative approach whereas that does not occur in quantitative studies. This paper takes Ludwik Fleck'...

Considering the nature of qualitative studies, the interaction between researchers and participants can be ethically challenging for the former, as they are personally involved in different stages of the study. Therefore, formulation of specific ethical guidelines in this respect seems to be essential. The present paper aimed to discuss the necessity to develop explicit guidelines for conductin...