A Fine Line

Abstract

Proponents of qualitative inquiry are both positioned, and in turn position themselves, in the wake of the effects of the politics of evidence. Such positioning is thus a dynamic process. It is not simply imposed or determined by others. Qualitative researchers are both worked on by, and in turn work on, understandings of research and research evidence. One potentially hidden or unexplored outworking of such a dynamic is the possible rise within qualitative inquiry itself of new forms of research fundamentalism in response, but also as reaction, to attempts to normalize and define research related evidence. This creates a fine line for qualitative research to tread in terms of positioning and transforming practice(s) in the wake of the politics of evidence.