Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Keywords

assessment criteria for qualitative research qualitative inquiry research quality

Is There Quality in Qualitative Research?

Seems so in the words,

But that’s a deceit.

Does it matter if there isn’t?

Maybe so, maybe not.

Can we see it?

Do we feel it?

Can we tick it off?

Is it more elusive?

Maybe so, maybe not.

Depends on who we are?

In the eye of each beholder?

Perhaps the vibrancy of things?

Maybe so, maybe not.

An illusion to believe in?

Or a principle to serve?

Maybe so, maybe not.

Do we want to know the answers?

Maybe so, maybe not.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Martyn Hammersley

Author Biography

Martyn Hammersley is Emeritus Professor of Educational and Social Research at The Open University, UK. He has carried out research in the sociology of education and the sociology of the media, but much of his work has been concerned with the methodological issues surrounding social enquiry. His books include (with Paul Atkinson) Ethnography: Principles in Practice (Fourth edition, Routledge 2019), The Politics of Social Research (Sage, 1995), Reading Ethnographic Research (Second edition, Longman 1997), Questioning Qualitative Inquiry (Sage, 2008), The Limits of Social Science (Sage, 2014), The Radicalism of Ethnomethodology (Manchester University Press, 2018), The Concept of Culture (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), and Troubling Sociological Concepts (Palgrave Macmillan 2020). Website: