Standards of Evidence in Qualitative Research: An Incitement to Discourse

Impact Factor:2.779 | Ranking:6/219 in Education & Educational ResearchSource:2012 Journal Citation Reports® (Thomson Reuters, 2013)
Melissa Freeman, assistant professor

The Department of Lifelong Education, Administration, and Policy in the College of Education at The University of Georgia, 329 River’s Crossing, Athens, GA 30602; freeman9{at}uga.edu. Her research interests include transformational and relational theories and methodologies in qualitative research and evaluation, parental perceptions of public schooling, and philosophical hermeneutics Kathleen deMarrais, professor

The Department of Lifelong Education, Administration and Policy and associate dean in the College of Education at The University of Georgia, G3 Aderhold Hall, Athens, GA 30602; kpd{at}uga.edu. Her research interests include the political context of qualitative research, qualitative pedagogy, and the influence of neoconservative philanthropy on educational policy Judith Preissle, professor

The Department of Lifelong Education, Administration, and Policy in the College of Education at The University of Georgia, 303 River’s Crossing, Athens, GA 30602, and an affiliated member of UGA’s Institute for Women’s Studies; jude{at}uga.edu. She teaches, researches, and writes in educational anthropology, qualitative research, feminist studies, and ethics Kathryn Roulston, associate professor

The Department of Lifelong Education, Administration, and Policy in the College of Education at The University of Georgia, 324 River’s Crossing, 850 College Station Road, Athens, GA 30602; roulston{at}uga.edu. Her research interests include qualitative research methodology, qualitative interviewing, analysis of talk-in-interaction, and topics in music education Elizabeth A. St. Pierre, professor of language and literacy education and a qualitative methodologist

The University of Georgia, 125 Aderhold Hall, Athens, GA 30602; stpierre{at}uga.edu. Her research interests include poststructural theories of language and subjectivity and a critique of conventional qualitative inquiry In a climate of increased accountability, standardization, federal control, and politicization of education research and scholarship, this article briefly reviews various positions outlined by qualitative researchers about quality in qualitative inquiry, showing how these are implicated in the acquisition, conceptualization, and use of qualitative evidence. It concludes by identifying issues in and challenges to setting standards of evidence for qualitative researchers in education.

Received June 30, 2006. Revision received September 25, 2006. Accepted September 28, 2006.

View the original article here