Are There Assessment Criteria for Qualitative Findings? A Challenge Facing Mixed Methods Research

Abstract

If findings from qualitative and quantitative components in mixed methods research are to be synthesised, the quality of each must be assessed. But an obvious problem is that there are no generally agreed criteria for assessing qualitative findings. The question of criteria has long been debated in the methodological literature. I argue that some important distinctions need to be made if progress is to be achieved on this issue. Perhaps the most important one is between the standards in terms of which assessment is carried out and the indicators used to evaluate findings in relation to those standards. I go on to outline what I believe is involved in such evaluations, rejecting the possibility of a detailed and explicit set of indicators that can immediately be used to determine the validity of knowledge claims. My approach broadly fits the framework of mixed methods research, since I deny that there is any fundamental philosophical difference between quantitative and qualitative methods. But it is at odds with widespread views, even within the realm of mixed methods, whose advocates seek radically to redefine the ontological, epistemological, and/or axiological assumptions of social scientific research, for example in the name of a transformative approach.