Qualitative research methods are enjoying unprecedented popularity. Although checklists have undoubtedly contributed to the wider acceptance of such methods, these can be counterproductive if used prescriptively. The uncritical adoption of a range of “technical fixes” (such as purposive sampling, grounded theory, multiple coding, triangulation, and respondent validation) does not, in itself, co...

Canadian autism policy has been unusually contentious, with parents resorting to litigation to secure services for their children in several provinces. To ascertain whether consensus was possible on improving services, we conducted an in-depth qualitative interview study with 39 parents, policymakers and researchers across the country. Parents vividly described the stresses of caring for their ...

This article focuses on the tensions between the commitment to power redistribution of the qualitative paradigm and the ethical and methodological complexity inherent in clinical research. Qualitative inquiry, in general, though there are significant variations between its different paradigms and traditions, proposes to reduce power differences and encourages disclosure and authenticity between...

OBJECTIVE To provide a framework for critically evaluating qualitative research to professionals interested in pediatric psychology. Qualitative methods emphasize the phenomenological experience of participants and may be pertinent to studying contextual factors that contribute to child health and well-being. METHOD A basic overview of the types of qualitative research, methodological procedu...

Introduction Reflexivity is a curious term with various meanings. Finding a definition of reflexivity that demonstrates what it means and how it is achieved is difficult (Colbourne and Sque 2004). Moreover, writings on reflexivity have not been transparent in terms of the difficulties, practicalities and methods of the process (Mauthner and Doucet 2003). Nevertheless, it is argued that an attem...

There is a new attention across disciplines to narrative knowing--the impulse to story life events into order and meaning. In this paper, narrative is presented as a framework for understanding the subject and interview data in qualitative research. Examples of narrative approaches are offered, narrative analyses are contrasted with other kinds of qualitative analyses, and truth in narratives i...