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Stacy M. Carter and Miles Little Methods in Qualitative Research

Justifying Knowledge, Justifying Method, Taking Action: Epistemologies, Methodologies, and

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Justifying Knowledge, Justifying Method,Taking Action: Epistemologies, Methodologies,and Methods in Qualitative ResearchStacy M. CarterMiles LittleThe University of Sydney

In this article, the authors clarify a framework for qualitative research, in particular for evaluating its quality, foundedon epistemology, methodology, and method. They define these elements and discuss their respective contributionsand interrelationships. Epistemology determines and is made visible through method, particularly in the participantresearcher relationship, measures of research quality, and form, voice, and representation in analysis and writing.Epistemology guides methodological choices and is axiological. Methodology shapes and is shaped by researchobjectives, questions, and study design. Methodologies can prescribe choices of method, resonate with particular aca-demic disciplines, and encourage or discourage the use and/or development of theory. Method is constrained by andmakes visible methodological and epistemic choices. If we define good quality qualitative research as research thatattends to all three elements and demonstrates internal consistency between them, standardized checklists can be tran-scended and innovation and diversity in qualitative research practice facilitated.

Keywords: qualitative research; research design; epistemology; methodology; method; research quality; evidence-based medicine

In this article, we present a model for thinking aboutqualitative research. We argue that three fundamentalfacets of researchepistemology, methodology, andmethodshould provide the framework for planning,implementing, and evaluating the quality of qualitativeresearch. We clarify each of these research facets, theirinterrelationships, and their contributions to researchpractice and appraisal.

In general, when we speak about qualitativeresearch, we mean social research in which theresearcher relies on text data rather than numerical data,analyzes those data in their textual form rather thanconverting them to numbers for analysis, aims to under-stand the meaning of human action (Schwandt, 2001),

and asks open questions about phenomena as theyoccur in context rather than setting out to test predeter-mined hypotheses. The assessment and synthesis ofsuch research, especially in health, is an increasinglypressing issue (Cochrane Qualitative ResearchMethods Group, 2006; Pound et al., 2005), as reflectedin discussions at qualitative research conferences in2006, including the International Institute forQualitative Methodologys Advances in QualitativeMethods conference, and the Cochrane QualitativeMethods Group Regional Symposium. The urgencyaround quality and synthesis results in part from the riseof the evidence-based medicine movement, which pro-motes the use of standardized assessment criteria andchecklists, and the resulting concern of qualitativeresearchers that inappropriate measures will be used toevaluate their work. There are, in addition, long-standingtensions within the qualitative research communityover the most appropriate means by which to evaluaterigor (Angen, 2000). In this article, we add to the debateby explicating, in detail, a systematic way of thinkingabout and assessing qualitative research that transcendschecklists. In particular, we wish to avoid didacticism,

Qualitative Health ResearchVolume 17 Number 10

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Authors Note: This article was inspired and supported by conver-sations about methodology with Dr. Wendy Lipworth at the Centrefor Values Ethics and the Law in Medicine. Professor KathleenMontgomery of the University of California Riverside generouslyprovided detailed and constructive criticism. We are indebted to twoanonymous reviewers, whose supportive feedback significantlyimproved the finished product. Responsibility for any faults liessquarely with us. As this work is not empirical, ethics review wasnot required.


Carter, Little / Epistemologies, Methodologies, and Methods 1317

instead seeking to be as inclusive as possible, reflectingthe flexibility and diversity that exist across qualitativeresearch practice.

Definitions and Explanations

Method, methodology, and epistemology are definedin conflicting ways in the research literature. For thepurposes of this article, we will define them as follows.Epistemology is the study of the nature of knowledgeand justification (Schwandt, 2001, p. 71), and episte-mological issues are issues about an adequate theoryof knowledge or justificatory strategy (Harding, 1987,p. 2). As shorthand, epistemology can be thought of asjustification of knowledge.

A methodology is defined as a theory and analysisof how research should proceed (Harding, 1987, p. 2),analysis of the assumptions, principles, and proce-dures in a particular approach to inquiry (Schwandt,2001, p. 161), or the studythe description, the expla-nation, and the justificationof methods, and not themethods themselves (Kaplan, 1964, p. 18). In short,methodology provides justification for the methods of aresearch project. Methods are techniques for gatheringevidence (Harding, 1987, p. 2) or procedures, toolsand techniques of research (Schwandt, 2001, p. 158).Methods can be thought of as research action. Inthe simplest terms, methodology justifies method,which produces data and analyses. Knowledge is cre-ated from data and analyses. Epistemology modifies

methodology and justifies the knowledge produced(Figure 1).

Epistemology: Justifying KnowledgeEpistemology is theory of knowledge. Some philoso-

phers are specialist epistemologists who study the com-ponents, sources, and limits of knowledge and of thejustification of knowledge (Moser, 2002). Philosophersof science study the nature of scientific knowledge, thatis, the claims made by various empirical disciplines andthe way in which researchers beliefs are formed andsustained (Kitcher, 2002). Discussions of philosophicalepistemology are beyond the scope of this article.Formal theories1 of knowledge can enrich but are not thesole determinant of research epistemologies, and thepraxis of social inquiry is an important means by whichtheories of knowledge can be constructed (Mauthner &Doucet, 2003; Schwandt, 2000). Accordingly, we willdiscuss epistemic questions, questions regardingresearch practice as knowledge creation and the status ofthe knowledge created, as academic researchersinformed by the qualitative research literature.

Methodology: Justifying MethodIn his 1964 book The Conduct of Inquiry, Kaplan

highlighted an important tension between what is actu-ally done in research and the way we talk about what isdone. Kaplan used the term logic to mean what[researchers] do when they are doing well as[researchers] (p. 8). He used the term logic-in-use to

Figure 1The Simple Relationship Between Epistemology, Methodology, and Method


1318 Qualitative Health Research

refer to the logic a researcher uses to produce knowl-edge and the term reconstructed logic to refer toattempts to explicitly formulate, articulate, analyze, orevaluate logic-in-use. Reconstructed logic is based onlogic-in-use, can influence logic-in-use, and also ideal-izes logic-in-use. Kaplan drew a metaphor to physiol-ogy: We all have it (physiology-in-use), but only someof us also think and write about it (reconstructed phys-iology). This article is reconstructed logic: It is ouranalysis, evaluation, and idealization of the process ofqualitative research. The notion of reconstructed logicis also important to an understanding of methodology.

In the literature, the term methodology is usedloosely. Various authors, for example, refer to formaltheories, schools of thought or movements such assymbolic interactionism or feminism, whole disci-plines such as anthropology, or methods such asfocus groups or observation as methodologies. Incontrast, and along with other writers, Kaplan (1964)defined methodology as the studythe description,the explanation, and the justificationof methods,and not the methods themselves (p. 18). In his terms,the aim of methodology is

to describe and analyse . . . methods, throwing light ontheir limitations and resources, clarifying their presup-positions and consequences . . . to help us to under-stand, in the broadest possible terms, not the productsof scientific inquiry but the process itself. (p. 23)

A methodologist is, thus, someone who sits outsidemethods and describes, explains, justifies, evaluates,and helps us understand them. Researchers can act asmethodologists (we are acting as methodologistsnow); theoreticians from various disciplines can alsoact as observermethodologists.

Over decades of such activity, methodologists havearticulated a number of distinct strategies for approach-ing qualitative research: a set of reconstructed logics ofqualitative research. Consistent with other writers(Harding, 1987; Schwandt, 2001), we refer to thesereconstructed logics, the product of methodologicalwork, as methodologies. These methodologies justifythe methods used in qualitative research. They include

1. grounded theory approaches (Charmaz, 2006;Clarke, 2005; Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Strauss &Corbin, 1998);

2. narrative, life history, testimonio, and biographicalmethodologies (Beverley, 2000; Hurwitz, Greenhalgh,& Skultans, 2004; Lieblich, Tuval-Mashiach, & Zilber,1998);

3. various ethnographies (Carspecken, 1996;Hammersley & Atkinson, 1995; McCall, 2000);

4. participatory action research traditions (Dick, 2003;Kemmis & McTaggart, 2000);

5. various phenomenological or phenomenographictraditions (Giorgi, 1985; Moutsakas, 1994; Valle &Halling, 1989); and

6. case study approaches (Stake, 1995; Yin, 2002).

Other writers have used different terms to refer tothese qualitative methodologies. Denzin and Lincoln(2000), for example, use strategies of inquiry; Creswell(1998) has used traditions of inquiry. These recon-structed logics are based on the logic-in-use of qualita-tive research but can also influence it. Indeed, we willargue that researchers can benefit in specific ways fromthe guidance provided by these methodologies.However, it is also important to recognize that thesereconstructed logics are idealizations that will alwaysbe somewhat abstracted from researchers diverse logics-in-use. Some of the methodologies listed aboveare more prescriptive about method than others, but allof them provide the researcher with an overall strategyfor formulating, articulating, analyzing, and evaluatingtheir methods.

Although examples from different methodologieswill be provided in the following discussion, they willnot be explained, as they are expounded elsewhere.Creswells (1998, 2007) important text is particularlyuseful, in that he compared and contrasted severalmethodologies in detail. Each of these methodologiesis internally heterogeneous, dynamic, and evolving, andwe will argue, as others have (Atkinson, 1995; Johnson,Long, & White, 2001), for an approach to methodologythat is thoughtful, historically and theoretically situated,and flexible rather than dogmatic.

Method: Research ActionMethod is research action. Research methods are the

practical activities of research: sampling, data collec-tion, data management, data analysis, and reporting.Qualitative research samples purposively; that is, sam-ples are selected to serve an investigative purpose ratherthan to be statistically representative of a population(Ritchie, Lewis, & Elam, 2003). Purposive samplingmethods include theoretical sampling (Charmaz, 2006),sampling for maximum variation, and time- or place-based sampling (Ritchie et al., 2003). Qualitative datacollection methods include observation, interviews,focus groups, collection of extant texts (such as organi-zational records), elicitation of texts (such as participant


diaries), and the creation or collection of images (suchas photos and video). Increasingly, data collectionincludes Internet-facilitated methods (such as e-mailinterviewing, or inviting participants to create blogs).Data management methods include recording, tran-scription, transcript checking, and the use of computer-assisted analysis software. Data analysis methodsinclude constant comparison, memo writing, andtheory building (Charmaz, 2006; Glaser & Strauss,1967), narrative analysis techniques (Cortazzi, 1993;Lieblich et al., 1998), and microlinguistic analysis tech-niques (Fairclough, 1992; Gee, 2005). It is commonlyrecognized that writing and reporting in qualitativeresearch are part of the analytic process, in that aresearchers thinking and interpretation generallydevelops via the writing process (Richardson, 2000).Qualitative research reporting can include articles forthe peer-reviewed literature, advocacy, conference pre-sentations, performances, and creative writing.

The Need to Reconsider these BasicPrinciples

Epistemology, methodology, and method are funda-mental concepts. Any experienced qualitative researchershould have wrestled with each of them during her orhis career. However, qualitative research reporting isfrequently insufficient in all three areas, and althoughthis might be partly due to word length limitations insome journals, it also suggests a lack of engagementwith these important concepts. Methods are generallythe best reported. Articles are often silent and, worse,sometimes internally inconsistent with regard to episte-mology. Several methodological problems can beobserved. One is methodological fundamentalism:insistence that a particular methodology is somehowthe one true qualitative research and should never bechanged or combined with elements of other method-ologies. Another is the common post hoc application ofa methodological label to a study design at odds witheven the most relaxed interpretation of that tradition.Finally, there is sometimes a sense, at least in healthresearch circles, that research that is guided by amethodology is more esoteric, less practical, and thusless fundable, indicating lack of understanding of thevalue of methodologies for qualitative research. All ofthese problems underline the need for work thatengages and clarifies methods, methodologies, andepistemologies. Their importance and contribution, asillustrated in Figure 2, will now be discussed.

The Contribution of Epistemology toQualitative Research

The epistemological contribution to research isessentially theoretical: It has to do with theories ofknowledge. Epistemology is inescapable. A reflexiveresearcher actively adopts a theory of knowledge. Aless reflexive researcher implicitly adopts a theory ofknowledge, as it is impossible to engage in knowledgecreation without at least tacit assumptions about whatknowledge is and how it is constructed. We will illus-trate with an example.

Imagine a qualitative researcher named Anna froman academic public health department. She wishes tostudy school-aged smoking on the grounds that 80%of smokers become addicted as teenagers and thisshould be prevented. To do this, she will engage withpeople who have experience of school-age smoking,such as young smokers and nonsmokers, theirteachers, and/or their parents. Annas supervisors areProfessors Rachel Rose and Peter Jeffery. These ficti-tious professors do not illustrate the entire range ofpossible epistemic positions but do demonstrate twovery real possibilities.

Professor Jeffery believes that Anna, in her project,will be jointly creating knowledge about school-agesmoking in collaboration with her participants. Headvises that this knowledge will be a product of the spe-cific interactions and relationships between Anna andthose participants in the specific context of their study.The knowledge that Anna constructs in relationshipswith these participants in this place and time will be dif-ferent from the knowledge that would be constructedwith different participants in a different place and time(although there might be some commonalities). Annawill be an active creator of the research, inextricablyimprinted on it from beginning to end, and it will beimportant for Anna to constantly reflect on this process;that is, Professor Jeffery believes that one strength ofqualitative research is that engages with peoples sub-jectivity and that Anna should be transparent about herown subjectivity to enable readers to make judgmentsabout it. Professor Jeffery does not believe that thewords that the participants speak will provide access totheir internal states or phenomena: he does not, forexample, believe it possible for Anna to access the atti-tudes, motivations, or beliefs of participants as static,measurable entities. Rather, he advises Anna that shewill be recording and studying interactions and thedynamic way in which people bring issues and problemsto life by talking about them or acting around them.




Professor Roses beliefs are very different. Sheargues that Annas proper task is to understand the real-ity of school-age smoking in a way that is as generaliz-able as possible. Professor Rose believes that Anna canaccess participants real beliefs, attitudes, and knowl-edge: that Anna can, for example, elucidate the essenceof the experience of school-age smoking or that she candetermine what teenagers believe about smoking risks.Professor Rose disagrees with Professor Jefferys posi-tion about subjectivity and transparency in qualitativeresearch; in contrast, she strongly advises Anna to avoidintroducing bias and thus inaccuracy to her study.Professor Rose thus argues that Anna should ask ques-tions in a nonleading, depersonalized manner to makesure that she is observing the real attitudes, motivations,and beliefs of her participants, and try to set aside whatshe already knows about school-age smoking to avoidinfluencing the study. Professor Rose believes thatanother qualitative researcher should be able to approx-imate Annas results in the same or a similar setting.

The literature is replete with both kinds of profes-sors, who are thoughtful, productive, and rigorous

according to their respective standards (Mantzoukas,2004; Rolfe, 2006). These two very different episte-mologies represent internally coherent and workableapproaches to research practice. They are, however,more or less incommensurable. There are four territo-ries, one methodological and three to do with methods,in which epistemology becomes visible and in whichProfessor Jeffery and Professor Rose are likely to dis-agree. These will now be discussed.

Epistemology Influences MethodologyMethodologies justify methods, and methods pro-

duce knowledge, so methodologies have epistemiccontent. As a result of this, Professor Jeffery andProfessor Rose, with their differing epistemologicalpositions, will be drawn to different methodologiesand different variants of the same methodology. Aphenomenological study based on Husserlian philos-ophy might be attractive to Professor Rose but episte-mologically untenable to Professor Jeffery (Creswell,1998). Professor Rose might be drawn to a form of

Figure 2The Contributions of Method, Methodology, and Epistemology to Qualitative Research



grounded theory that focuses more on repeatable,specific procedures (Strauss & Corbin, 1998),whereas Professor Jeffery would be more likelydrawn to later forms (Charmaz, 2006; Clarke, 2005)that assume an epistemic position similar to his(through their links to formal theories such as socialconstructionism and poststructuralism). ProfessorRose might be attracted to forms of ethnography thatseek to map the structure and function of a culturewith specific methods (Hammersley & Atkinson,1995), whereas Professor Jeffery might prefer a per-formance ethnography (McCall, 2000) that brings theparticipants, the researcher, and the audience togetherin a single place and time.

Epistemology Influences Implementation of Method

Epistemology has three main influences on themethod of research, as shown in Figure 2; throughthese pathways, method makes epistemology visible.

Epistemology Influences the Relationship Betweenthe Researcher and the Participant

Epistemology profoundly shapes the researchersconceptualization of the participant in data collectionand analysis. In short, Professor Jeffery is likely to thinkof the participants as active contributors; Professor Rosewill think of them as subjects being studied. Accord-ingly, Professor Rose is likely to advise Anna that shemust attempt to get inside her participants heads. Annawill have done a good job if she can report her partici-pants beliefs, attitudes, and values accurately: if shesees the world through their eyes. In her dealings withher participants, Anna should be as invisible, as con-tained, as unobtrusive as possible. Anna should be alertfor deception, inconsistency, or error on the part ofa participant, as these might confound Annas find-ings or reveal something about the participants cogni-tion (for example, that they are experiencing cognitivedissonance).

Alternatively, Professor Jeffery will argue thatAnnas job is to engage with her participants to jointlycreate an understanding of school-age smoking. He ismore likely to encourage her to interact freely withthem, to be herself (within the constraints of what isethically and socially appropriate), to form a caringrelationship with them, to allow the unexpected to hap-pen, and to be alert to multiple ways of seeing. He will

emphasize that she cannot get inside participantsheads: that all Anna can observe is the way people inter-act with her and with one another, including throughlanguage, to create meaning. If Joe, a young smoker,contradicts himself, this is unlikely to mean that Joe isuntrustworthy or experiencing cognitive conflict.Instead, Professor Jeffery expects that Joe will con-struct meaning differently in different times and con-texts. Professor Jeffery might advise Anna to talkthrough these different constructions with Joe to try tounderstand the context for the differences observed. Inboth Professor Jeffery and Professor Roses formula-tions, participants can be respected, taken seriously, andtreated ethically. However, in Professor Roses formu-lation, the participants are passive in the researchprocessthey are being studiedwhereas in ProfessorJefferys formulation, participants have agency in theresearch process and are cocreators of the study.

Epistemology Influences the Way in WhichQuality of Methods is Demonstrated

Epistemology is key to assessment of the quality ofdata and of analysis (Angen, 2000). Many of the fightsover quality in qualitative research are thinly veiledepistemological battles. Professor Rose and ProfessorJeffery should both advocate making good recordingsand detailed, evocative transcriptions that are carefullychecked against the recordings. Data quality is essentialfrom either epistemic position. However, on many otherquality issues they are likely to differ.

Professor Rose, for example, is likely to advise Annato use multiple observers to verify or correct her ownobservations. She might suggest that the study partici-pants be sent their transcripts so that they can correctthem. Professor Rose might also suggest triangulatingseveral different data sources; for example, she mightsuggest combining observational data, focus group data,and interview data in an attempt to increase accuracy.Professor Rose might suggest that Anna should collectall of her data before she analyses it and that analysisshould use a predefined, repeatable method. Forexample, if Anna has chosen an ethnographic studydesign, Professor Rose might advise her to develop adetailed codebook with extensive definitions from thedata before she commences analysis; if a narrative/lifehistory design, to adopt a standardized method of struc-tural and/or linguistic analysis (such as conversationanalysis or genre analysis) to apply to the text; if phe-nomenology, to sit with her colleagues and read the



transcripts jointly and repeatedly until a set of themescan be agreed on by consensus. Professor Rose mightadvise Anna to train several peers to use her analyticmethod, ask them to code a subset of the data, and testthe level of agreement in their coding using nonpara-metric statistics or to test statistically for patterns in thelanguage itself (for example, whether smokingteenagers use a particular word or certain grammaticalelements more often nonsmokers). Professor Rosemight also suggest that Anna look for misrepresenta-tions or errors in participants accounts, check whetherthe participants agree with the analysis, or run a surveystudy with a population similar to the participants in the qualitative study to test the generalizability of thefindings.

In contrast, Professor Jeffery might suggest thatAnna use multiple sources but to produce more datarather than to prove accuracy. Similarly, he might sug-gest returning transcripts to participants but to gathernew data (the reflections of participants on their tran-scripts), not to check for accuracy. As Professor Jefferybelieves that Anna is inextricably implicated in everystep of the research process, he will advise her to makedetailed records of her own participation, reactions, andexperiences and to use these records as an importantdata source in analysis. Professor Jeffery is more likelyto advise Anna to begin analysis immediately ratherthan to wait for data collection to finish, and althoughhe might support her analyzing data in a team, thiswould be for the purposes of broadening the frameworkof reference rather than for the purposes of demonstrat-ing repeatability.

Epistemology Influences Form, Voice, andRepresentation in the Method

Finally, epistemology determines how the researchercommunicates with his or her audience and the concep-tualization of the role of the audience, the analyst, andthe participants in the work (Mantzoukas, 2004).Professor Jeffery is likely to advise Anna that as the pri-mary constructor of the final research report she shouldmake herself as plain in it as she can; anything elsewould be inconsistent with the epistemic foundations ofthe study he has advised her to conduct. She shouldwrite with her own voice and tell her own story, partic-ularly the story of her participation in the research,alongside that of the participants, including the alterna-tive explanations she has considered and the struggles,defeats, and triumphs of the research process. ProfessorJeffery might encourage Anna to make her de-identified

analysis records, including her memos, available to theresearch community via an Internet site. He is alsomore likely to counsel Anna to think of her audience asactive interpreters and thus to present her work in lesstraditional modes, such as performances involving theresearch participants, poetry composed of quotationsfrom the participants statements, or writing on splitpages with long sections of raw data below and alterna-tive readings of that data above.

Professor Rose is likely to become exasperatedwith these suggestions of Professor Jefferys, seeingthem as unscientific, indulgent, and potentially dan-gerous to Annas career. She might be more likely tocounsel the presentation of a completed, coherent,and unified analysis, with exemplary quotes, in theobjective scientific third person, with no informationabout Anna herself: a report that summarizes the factsabout school-aged smoking that Anna has discovered.

These suggestions regarding writing, voice, andrepresentation are as incommensurable as ProfessorRose and Professor Jefferys epistemic positions, butthey are, as Mantzoukas (2004) has argued, internallyconsistent. It would be as much a betrayal of princi-ple for Professor Jeffery to suggest that Anna write asan anonymous author as it would be for ProfessorRose to permit Anna to write a detailed account of hertribulations as a field-worker.

Epistemology is AxiologicalThe epistemic tension between the professors about

implementation of method illustrates an importantaspect of epistemology: that it is axiological, that is, todo with values. Epistemology, thus, has ethical weight.Axiology relates to epistemology in two ways: It is inepistemology itself, and it is in the cultural context thatinforms epistemology. Let us explain.

Epistemology contains values, in that epistemologyis normative. It is the basis for explaining the rightnessor wrongness, the admissibility or inadmissibility, oftypes of knowledge and sources of justification of thatknowledge. When Professor Jeffery argues that Annashould write about her subjectivity and her analyticchoices and Professor Rose retorts that only a highkappa statistic between researchers can demonstratereliability of analysis, they are making value judgmentsabout what constitutes trustworthy knowledge. In thissense, axiology is in epistemology.

Epistemology is also surrounded by axiology, inthat the knowledge that is generated by a project willbe discussed, evaluated, and justified in relation to



broader cultural values. At the end of her study, Annamight conclude that for students, or for the students inher study, smoking is an exciting and enjoyable socialritual and status marker. This finding could be justifiedas knowledge, as some kind of truth, however specificor limited, using either Professor Jefferys or ProfessorRoses criteria. However, a truth is not necessarily agood. In her conclusions, Anna will need to evaluatethe knowledge generated, comparing the values of herparticipants to her own values and those of the broaderculture, which are informed by research on the healtheffects of smoking and the difficulty many peopleexperience in quitting later in life. In this sense, episte-mology is surrounded by axiology.

The Contribution of Methodology toQualitative Research

Earlier in the article, we defined methodologies asthe reconstructed logics that justify, explain, and helpus understand research methods. We noted the con-tention around what constitutes a methodology andlisted some qualitative methodologies. In Figure 2 weillustrate the essential and possible contributions ofmethodology, which will now be considered in detail.

Iterative Planning Relationships:Methodology Interacts With Objectives,Questions, and Study Design

When constructing themselves as methodologicallyecumenical, researchers commonly state that they usewhichever methodology suits the study objectives andthe research question, but this fails to recognize thatthis relationship operates in two directions, as shown inFigure 2. Objectives, research questions, and designshape the choice of methodology, and methodologyshapes the objectives, research questions, and design.

To illustrate, we will return to the example of Anna,who wants to understand school-aged smoking betterthrough her qualitative study. Anna could approach andrefine this interest via one of several methodologies,and the methodology she selects will shape the ques-tions she asks and the study design she implements. Ifshe approached school-age smoking through an ethno-graphic lens, it would shift her toward studying smok-ing as, or in, a culture. She might set out to map andexplain the smoking groups at one or more schools ascultures or the culture of a particular school and theplace of smoking within it. If she adopted phenomenol-ogy, she would seek to uncover the essence or meaningof the smoking experience for individual school-age

people. A narrative-based methodology would guide herto ask about the place of smoking in the life histories of individual children, and perhaps also those of theirparents or other important figures. If she adoptedgrounded theory, she would set out to develop a sub-stantive theory of school-aged smoking. If she took anaction research approach, she would aim to makechanges to smoking in a community or a school, and ifshe adopted a case study methodology, it would directher to select a recent event (such as the introduction ofa smoking ban on school grounds or the expulsion of astudent for smoking) and study its lead-up and after-math. The methodologies provide ways of thinking thatwill strongly shape Annas possible objectives, ques-tions, and study design.

However, her objectives, questions, and study designwill, conversely, strongly shape her choice amongmethodologies. She might decide that questions aboutsystems or cultures are preferable to questions aboutindividuals and thus reject phenomenology and narra-tive methodologies. Alternatively, she might wish tounderstand young people as individuals rather thanstudents of a particular school or members of a particu-lar group. In this case, she would be likely to rejectethnography and case study methodologies. If herobjective is to reduce the prevalence of teen smoking inher local community, she is likely to select an actionresearch methodology. Similarly, restrictions on possi-ble study designs (for example, that she does not haveenough time for the long engagement required forethnography, or there is no event around which shecould locate a case study) will influence her choice ofmethodologies. In this iterative decision-makingprocess, objectives, research questions, and design canbe seen to shape the choice of methodology, and viceversa, until a unique solution for the particular researchsituation is reached.

Annas two-directional decision making will, via theresulting method cycle, produce different researchproducts. A grounded theory study is likely to producea theory, a narrative study a detailed analysis of life sto-ries, and an ethnography a detailed description and/orinterpretation of a culture. A successful action researchproject might produce teen antismoking activists andantismoking activities on school premises, and so on.

Relationships of Praxis: DifferentMethodologies Are More or Less Prescriptive About Actions Taken in theResearch Cycle

The methodology and related study design that Annachooses will be more or less prescriptive of the actions



that Anna takes in the research cycle. For example, agrounded theory study design would require theoreticalsampling (Charmaz, 2006), whereas phenomenologiesor the various narrative methodologies are likely to beless prescriptive about sampling choices.

Conceptual Relationships: MethodologyConnects Research to Theory and Discipline

It is a commonplace maxim that good qualitativeresearch should be theoretical, but this is frequentlyinsufficiently justified and can mean many things.Methods in and of themselves are relatively atheoreti-cal, as shown in Figure 2. As argued above, epistemol-ogy provides a potential connection between researchpractice and formal theories of knowledge. There areseveral other ways in which qualitative research can beconvincingly theoretical, all of them methodological.

First, each variant of each methodology has arisenfrom particular academic disciplines, such as sociology,anthropology, philosophy, or psychology and via thosedisciplines formal theories, and thus the specificmethodology adopted can link a researcher to those the-oretical bases. Second, methodologies can proscribe orencourage the use of existing formal and substantivetheories at two stages in the research process: first, inthe determination of objectives, research questions, andstudy design; and, second, during analysis and in inter-pretation of findings. Finally, different methodologiescan encourage or discourage the development of sub-stantive theories in the conduct of empirical work. Eachof these access points to theory are potentially usefuland can create richer, more satisfying, and more usableresearch (Charmaz, 2004). However, the absence oftheory at various points in the process might be appro-priate, dependent on methodology.

Imagine that Anna selected grounded theory method-ology for her study. How might this make Annas studymore or less theoretical? First, grounded theory wasexplicitly developed to guide researchers to generaterather than to verify theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Assuch, Annas study would be likely to generate a sub-stantive theory of school-age smoking. Second,grounded theory methodology would discourage the useof existing formal and substantive theories in setting theobjectives, research questions, and study design butwould facilitate their use later in analysis and interpreta-tion (Charmaz, 2006). Finally, grounded theory method-ology could connect Anna to a range of formal theoriesand to the discipline of sociology: variants of grounded

theory have arisen from theories including symbolicinteractionism and, more recently, social construction-ism. Anna will need to understand the relevant method-ological texts to do her study (Charmaz, 2006; Clarke,2005; Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Strauss & Corbin, 1998),but she would also be likely to benefit from a betterunderstanding of symbolic interactionism, social con-structionism, and other relevant formal theories, depend-ing on the version of grounded theory methodology thatshe wishes to adopt. Such a disciplinary understandingmight not be strictly necessary, but (in tandem with thebenefit of research experience) it offers a substantial per-sonal advantage and a basis for thinking carefully aboutcombining methodologies (Zimmer, 2006). If Annabetter understands the theoretical and disciplinary basesfor her methodology, she is likely to use it in a morenuanced and flexible way and to feel personally confi-dent in her practice rather than blindly following arecipe. This would enable Anna to become a reflexiveand creative practitioner, capable of reinvention and evo-lution of her craft (Zimmer, 2006). Methodologies, aswe have argued, are idealized reconstructed logics.Logics-in-use are rarely pure (Johnson et al., 2001),and disciplinary understanding combined with experi-ence provides a basis for combining or modifying exist-ing methodologies meaningfully.

Now imagine that Anna selected ethnography as hermethodology. Within ethnography, Anna would have arange of choices available to her. She might, forexample, choose an ethnography with its roots in cul-tural anthropology (Hammersley & Atkinson, 1995), inwhich case she might benefit from a good understand-ing of cultural anthropology. Alternatively, she mightselect a critical ethnography (Carspecken, 1996), forwhich immersion in critical theory would be essential.Annas ethnographic study is also a good illustration ofthe fact that it is not always necessary for a good qual-itative study to be theoretical. If Anna chose the firstkind of ethnography, for example, she might eschewexisting formal theories in her objectives, questions,and study design and in her analysis and interpretation,and aim to produce a thick, situated, atheoreticaldescription through long immersion in a culture. Theproduct of that work could be extremely valuable for anoutsider seeking to engage with that culture despite itslack of theoretical content. In contrast, if Anna chosecritical ethnography, she would explicitly frame herquestions and design her study in light of critical theoryand would analyze and interpret her data through theseexisting formal theories of power, oppression, and lib-eration. Her research product would thus be strongly


shaped by existing formal theory and might be lesslikely to contain a rich emic description. This researchproduct would be likely to be more theoretical and as aresult both less useful to some readers and more con-vincing to others.

There are many methodological options for Annato select among, each of them of more or less use todifferent audiences, each shaped to greater or lesserdegrees by existing theory, and each differentiated bythe theoretical cast introduced by the chosen method-ology. The degree to which the work is theoreticalwill be less important than the degree to which Annacan justify as internally consistent her choices ofmethod, methodology, and epistemology.

The Contribution of Method toQualitative Research

Methods are the nuts and bolts of research practice.The actions of the researchers and participants in aresearch project constitute the methods of that project.As shown in Figure 2, methodssampling, data col-lection, data management, analysis, and reportingcanbe conceptualized in a continuous, iterative cycle. Thiswill not be the case in all qualitative research. However,unlike quantitative research, where rigor is partlydependent on sampling, data collection, analysis, andreporting being kept separate and progressing in a lin-ear fashion, in qualitative research it can increase rigorif these phases are iteratively related. As analysis andearly writing reveals unexpected insights, sampling anddata collection can be modified to better support theintegrity, focus, and explanatory power of continuinganalysis and, thus, the final product. This principlecomes originally from grounded theory methodology(Glaser & Strauss, 1967) but can be used in mostmethodologies and will depend in part on the episte-mological position adopted.

The most significant contribution of methods, asshown in Figure 2, is a pragmatic one: that the methodsselected will determine the final research product. Thismight sound banal, but it is too easy to select methodsbecause they are more familiar, faster, or easier toimplement without sufficient attention to the researchproduct they will generate. Focus groups versus indi-vidual interviews, e-mailfacilitated interviews versusface-to-face interviews, observation versus collectionof organizational documents will each produce differ-ent data. Similarly, different analysis methods will con-struct very different accounts of the same data. Five

studies of the same phenomenon using different datacollection and analysis methods are likely to producefive different readings of that phenomenon. Thus,all method selection should be done purposefully andwith care.

Methods are the most accessible, observable, andobligatory of the three facets and, thus, the one mostattended to in practice. In the health sector, qualitativeresearch is often conducted without attention tomethodologies or epistemologies, reflecting the domi-nant research culture, which tends to take epistemologyfor granted and to use the terms method and methodol-ogy interchangeably. We disagree strongly withMauthner and Doucets (2003) argument that method isepistemology; instead, being the point where the partic-ipants and the researcher meet, methods are the praxisthat realizes the other elements. It is through methodsthat methodology and epistemology become visible.

Applying the Framework: Epistemology,Methodology, and Method in the

Research Process

As Figure 2 illustrates, method, methodology, andepistemology are intimately, intricately connected.They each act on one another in research planningand implementation. We will now present a set ofdecisions to make when constructing a qualitativeresearch study and a note on the evaluation of quali-tative research.

Decision 1: Choosing an Epistemological PositionThis question is the starting point because epistemol-

ogy is foundational and will directly influence methodsand methodology. The researchers epistemologicalposition is likely to constrain other things more than beconstrained, although it might be partly determined bythe discipline the researcher comes from and the formaltheories of knowledge the researcher has read.Decisions about epistemology matter because they willinfluence choice of methodology, as some epistemolo-gies and methodologies are incommensurable, and dif-ferent variants of individual methodologies are linked tospecific epistemic positions, mostly via those method-ologies theoretical and disciplinary roots. Epistemologywill also constrain research practice (method), deter-mining the researcherparticipant relationship, appro-priate measures of research quality, and the nature ofreporting.




Decision 2: Selecting a Variant of a Methodology toEmploy (or Elements of Existing Methodologies toCombine)

The answer to this question will be determined inpart by the researchers chosen epistemic position andmight also be shaped by the discipline in which she orhe is trained or has read. Decisions about methodologymatter because they will influence (and be influencedby) the objectives, research questions, and study designand provide the research strategy and thus have a pro-found effect on the implementation of method. Theyalso matter because they have the potential to make theresearch process more or less theoretical in severalways: Methodology provides the primary source of jus-tification for the projects relationship to theory.Methodologies can be combined or altered, providingthat the researcher retains a coherent epistemologicalposition and can justify the choices made, preferably inrelation to both the theoretical context of the methodol-ogy and the impact of the change on method and thefinal research product.

Decision 3: Selecting Methods, Within the Chosen Epistemology and Methodology, That Will Produce the Best Data to Answer the Research Questions

Methods are the most flexible, pragmatic, and intrin-sically atheoretical component of the research process,strongly influenced by methodology (via the objectives,research questions, and study design) and epistemol-ogy. They are also the pathway to the final researchproduct. Without sampling, data collection, data man-agement, analysis, and reporting, there is no research.Without careful choice of methods, the research ques-tions will not be answered and the objectives will not bemet. The study will be difficult to justify unless meth-ods, methodology, and epistemology are internally con-sistent. If a researcher keeps a firm grasp on her or hismethodological and epistemological decisions andremains flexible, the methods should evolve to serve thestudy.

The Most Important Application of this Approach:The Research Quality Debate

In this article, we have presented a view of how goodqualitative research should work. In short, that it shouldbe able to explain itself by presenting and arguing foran internally consistent set of elements: research episte-mology (justification of knowledge), methodology (jus-tification of method), and method (research action).

This systematic approach to qualitative research hasimplications for the research quality debate. If journalsrequired that each of these elements be reported, and ifcolleagues, supervisors, those conducting research syn-theses, and, most important, peer reviewers prioritizedinternal consistency among these elements as the keymarker of quality in qualitative research, the incom-mensurability of different epistemologies could be cir-cumlocuted and unnecessary prescriptiveness aboutmethodology and method avoided. Both ProfessorRose and Professor Jeffery should be able to recognizewhether one anothers studies are based on an internallyconsistent set of choices about epistemology, method-ology, and method. Rather than omitting an article froma research synthesis or rejecting it in peer reviewbecause they are personally uncomfortable with theepistemology, methodology, or method, they couldmake decisions about articles on the basis of internalconsistency between the three elements.

This provides an alternative to checklists and onesize fits all quality standards. Without insisting thatone particular type of qualitative research is superiorto others, we have proposed a systematic, detailedbasis for justification, modification, and innovation inqualitative research practice. Most important, thisframework makes visible the epistemic issues that areso often at the heart of tensions over quality and pro-vides a means by which individual pieces of qualita-tive research and our work as a whole can bedefended. We will not all agree with the choices thatAnna finally makes, but if she can defend and imple-ment them convincingly, there should be a place forher in the academic community.

Limitations of the Framework

To conclude, we will outline and answer some poten-tial limitations.

The Absence of OntologyTextbooks often present ontology, along with episte-

mology, as a foundational element of qualitativeresearch. Ontological questions are questions about thenature of reality (Blackburn, 1993; Bruner, 1990), bothphysical reality (such as the bundle of paper or com-puter monitor from which you are currently reading)and social reality (such as the organization that employsyou). We have excluded ontology from this framework.Researchers generally treat social concepts as if theyare real enough to be named, investigated, and ana-lyzed. Indeed, we have to act as if the physical and


social world is real to get by in our daily lives. Whetheror how they are real and the implications of this forresearch are interesting questions, but they require spe-cialist philosophical treatment beyond the scope of thisarticle.

Potential Objections to PluralismSome readers might object to the notion of pluralism

in qualitative research, preferring a resolution of thetensions and a single measure of good qualitativeresearch. However, the logic-in-use of qualitativeresearch is already diverse. The achievement of unitywould require repression of existing useful logics, andof the values at the heart of some epistemologies.Kaplan (1964) argued that the world of ideas has nobarriers, within or without, does not call for one trueLogic to govern it. The conviction that there is such alogicas it happens, oursis a parochialism. (p. 8).We have deliberately constructed our framework torespect all ways of working because this protects ourability to argue for our own way of working. The alter-native, seen too often in the literature, is a vicious circleof contempt between opposing positions.

Potential Challenges in ImplementationA related objection might be that this framework

does not provide enough concrete instruction for some-one wanting to conduct or evaluate qualitative research.There are, however, many books on the detail of meth-ods and methodologies to which novice researchers canturn. The purpose of this framework is to provide a wayof thinking that will guide researchers through thatvaluable material and assist them to make soundchoices of their own. Without doubt, evaluation, wis-dom, and learning are required to be able to judgewhether a piece of work is based on an internally con-sistent method, methodology, and epistemology, butengagement with and informed assessment of the logicof a piece of work seems to us a far more meaningfulevaluation than box-checking for straightforward crite-ria. The ability to make such judgments will depend ona systematic improvement in the quality of reporting ofqualitative work.

Researchers Are Not Always Methodologistsor Epistemologists

Finally, researchers might object that they are not, ordo not wish to be, methodologists or epistemologists.They do research. They generate useful findings.Nothing further is necessary. Although it might be true

that one can complete work without attending to thefoundations of that work, we have argued that allresearchers make daily assumptions about epistemologyand that methodological awareness carries substantialbenefit. We hope that the reconstructed logic presentedhere will assist us to justify our methods and findings toourselves and others, to evaluate one anothers contribu-tions, and to enjoy greater insight, sophistication, andsatisfaction as researchers.

Note1. Throughout this article we contrast substantive and formal

theory. We use these terms as Glaser and Strauss (1967) used them:substantive theory as a theory regarding a concrete issue, experi-ence, or activity; formal theory as a more abstract and far-reachingtheory. Take a doctoral student whose qualitative dissertation reportsa substantive theory explaining the experience of having breast can-cer. This substantive theory includes the core category hope andexplains, among other things, the role of hope in the experience ofbreast cancer. After graduation she decides that hope, a relativelyabstract construct, should be investigated further. Over the follow-ing 20 years, she develops a formal theory of hope. This involvesmany qualitative studies, producing substantive theories of other sit-uations in which people hope or lose hope, including other illnessexperiences, unemployment, war, and immigration. This formaltheory of hope draws on but will be more abstract and far-reachingthan any of the substantive theories.

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Stacy M Carter BAppSci, MPH(Hons), PhD, is a postdoctoralresearch fellow at the Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law inMedicine and a conjoint lecturer in the School of Public Health atthe University of Sydney, Australia.

Miles Little MD, MS, was the founding director of the Centre forValues, Ethics and the Law in Medicine at the University of Sydney,where he is an emeritus professor.


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