Sample Reporting in Qualitative Studies of Women with HIV Infection

Abstract

A key means by which readers judge the validity of both qualitative and quantitative research findings is to consider how well these findings are supported by the sample from which they were drawn. Yet as the authors discovered in the course of a systematic review of qualitative studies of women with HIV infection, relevant features of these samples are not always adequately reported or appropriately presented. Factors impeding the creation of a summary description of these women included haphazard placement of sample information throughout a research report; the misuse of variable- and case-oriented formats for organizing sample information; lack of clarity concerning the use of the same sample in multiple reports by the same investigators; and the presentation of inconsistent, irrelevant, misleading, imprecise, and/or erroneous information. These problems direct writers of qualitative research toward better ways of portraying the people taking part in their studies.