Method Police or Quality Assurance? Two Patterns of Interpretation in the Struggle for Supremacy in Qualitative Social Research

Abstract

In this article, I take a closer look at the debate that has arisen from 1. the massive changes that qualitative and interpretive social research have undergone in recent years and 2. the associated, clear increase in new methodological approaches. I outline two ideal-typical positions—the order-oriented police and the quality insurance personnel—to make salient again the common foundations of these approaches. A proposal is then presented for a cross-method practice for securing quality—which essentially exists in the use of qualitative/interpretive methods as the teaching of an art.