Critically Appraising Qualitative and Mixed Methods Evidence
The narration between entries paraphrases; it never reads an entry aloud before the entry plays. Every entry in this lecture plays exactly as it does on its own page — same file, same speed, nothing laid over it.
What you can do after this
- Say what qualitative evidence answers that quantitative evidence cannot
- Explain the universal-pyramid error and what it does to qualitative work
- Name the criterion that replaces validity, and say why appraisal still applies
- Name the three traditions and what each one studies
- Say why saturation rather than sample size is the stopping rule
What it covers
30 entries in 5 topics. Each number links to that entry on its own.
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1. Why this unit exists
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2. Ethnography
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3. Grounded theory
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4. Phenomenology and hermeneutics
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5. Why the traditions vary
Check yourself
What does qualitative evidence answer that quantitative evidence cannot?
How and why, rather than whether and how much. It answers the meaning question — the fifth of unit 2's five types — which asks what an experience is like for the people living it. No trial answers that, at any level of rigor.
What is the universal-pyramid error?
Applying the intervention hierarchy to every question. Hierarchies are specific to the question type, so using the trial-topped pyramid on a meaning question ranks qualitative work at the bottom of a ladder it was never on — and judging it by criteria built for trials misrepresents what it set out to do.
If validity is not the criterion, what is?
Trustworthiness, which has its own components and its own appraisal questions. Different criteria does not mean no criteria — qualitative work is appraised rigorously, on standards that belong to it.
Name the three traditions and what each studies.
Ethnography studies a culture from within, through fieldwork and participant observation over time. Grounded theory studies social processes and builds theory out of the data. Phenomenology studies lived experience as it is actually experienced.
Why is saturation the stopping rule rather than a target sample size?
Because the study is not drawing a sample to generalise from. Collection stops when new data stop adding anything new, and participants are recruited as the analysis develops — sampling follows the theory. A small sample is therefore not a defect, and this is the most common misreading of qualitative work.
Lecture transcript
The narration as recorded, in order. Where an entry plays, the transcript links to it rather than reprinting it — the entry plays from its own file, unaltered, and says the same thing on its own page.
Unit 6 was numbers. This unit is the questions numbers cannot reach — what an experience is like, how a process unfolds, why people do what they do. It comes in two parts, and this first one is the traditions. The unit rests on a point unit 6 already made: hierarchies are specific to the question being asked. There is no single pyramid. Applying the intervention hierarchy to a meaning question puts qualitative work at the bottom of a ladder it was never standing on, and that error is why so many clinicians believe this evidence is weak. By the end of this half you can say what qualitative evidence answers that quantitative cannot; explain the universal-pyramid error; name the criterion that replaces validity and say why appraisal still applies; name the three traditions and what each studies; and say why saturation rather than sample size is the stopping rule.
Eight videos, and they are the argument for the unit rather than a preamble to it. The error being prevented is applying one hierarchy to every question — which puts qualitative work at the bottom of a ladder it was never standing on.
What this kind of evidence is for.
EBP 0901 Qualitative Evidence Answers How and Why
Qualitative work answers how and why, where quantitative work answers whether and how much.
Which question type this serves.
EBP 0902 Meaning Questions Need Qualitative Designs
The fifth question type from unit 2 is answered here and nowhere else.
The foundation of the unit.
EBP 0903 Hierarchies Are Question-Specific
Each question type has its own hierarchy, which unit 6 established. This unit is what that principle was for.
The error it prevents.
EBP 0904 The Universal-Pyramid Error
Applying the intervention hierarchy to every question puts qualitative work at the bottom of a ladder it was never on.
What that error amounts to.
EBP 0905 Misrepresenting a Genre
Judging qualitative work by criteria built for trials misrepresents what it set out to do.
The criterion that belongs here.
EBP 0906 Trustworthiness
Trustworthiness replaces validity as the standard, and it has its own components.
Appraisal still applies.
EBP 0907 Separating Wheat From Chaff
Qualitative work is appraised rigorously. Different criteria does not mean no criteria.
Why the traditions come first.
EBP 0908 Know the Diversity Before Appraising
You cannot appraise a study without knowing which tradition it belongs to, because each has its own standards.
Five videos on the first family: the study of a culture from within, over time.
The first of three families.
EBP 0909 Ethnography
The study of a culture from within, over time.
How ethnography works.
EBP 0910 Fieldwork and Participant Observation
The researcher is present in the setting, participating while observing.
What it produces.
EBP 0911 Fieldnotes
The written record of what was observed, which is the data.
Who the researcher relies on.
EBP 0912 Key Informants
People inside the setting who can explain it to an outsider.
Two perspectives with names.
EBP 0913 Emic and Etic
Emic is the insider's account, etic the outsider's. Both are used, and confusing them is a flaw.
Seven videos on the second family. Watch saturation at the end — it is the stopping rule, and it is why sample size is the wrong thing to judge a qualitative study by.
The second family.
EBP 0914 Grounded Theory
Building theory out of the data rather than testing a theory against it.
Where it comes from.
EBP 0915 Symbolic Interaction and Pragmatism
The philosophical traditions grounded theory grew from, which shape what it looks for.
What it examines.
EBP 0916 What Grounded Theory Analyses
Social processes — how something unfolds between people over time.
What it produces.
EBP 0917 The Core Variable
The central process the analysis identifies, around which the theory is organised.
Its defining technique.
EBP 0918 Constant Comparison
Every new piece of data is compared against what has been collected so far, continuously.
How participants are chosen.
EBP 0919 Theoretical Sampling
Participants are chosen as the theory develops, to test what is emerging. Sampling follows the analysis.
The stopping rule.
EBP 0920 Saturation
Collection stops when new data stop adding anything. This is the criterion, and it is why sample size is not the measure.
Eight videos on the third family. Bracketing is the one to hold: the researcher states their assumptions rather than pretending to have none, which is the opposite of the contamination people assume.
The third family.
EBP 0921 Phenomenology
The study of lived experience as it is experienced.
What it examines.
EBP 0922 Lived Experience
What something is actually like for the person living it, before interpretation is layered on.
Its defining discipline.
EBP 0923 Bracketing
The researcher sets aside their own assumptions deliberately and states them, rather than pretending to have none.
The step that follows.
EBP 0924 Phenomenological Reduction
Working back from description toward the essential structure of the experience.
The researcher's own experience.
EBP 0925 Introspection
The researcher's own reflection, used as part of the method rather than excluded from it.
A fourth strand within this family.
EBP 0926 Hermeneutics
The tradition of interpretation, concerned with how meaning is understood.
Its method.
EBP 0927 Dialogical Engagement
Understanding built through dialogue between researcher and text or participant.
The two combined.
EBP 0928 Hermeneutic Phenomenology
Lived experience approached interpretively rather than descriptively.
Two videos to close. Each tradition contains internal disagreement, and knowing why stops you reading that as sloppiness.
A caution about all of it.
EBP 0929 Traditions Vary Internally
Each tradition contains disagreement. There is no single correct way to do phenomenology.
Why that variation exists.
EBP 0930 Three Reasons for the Variation
The variation has identifiable reasons, and knowing them stops you reading disagreement as sloppiness.
That is the terrain. Against the outcomes. Qualitative work answers how and why; quantitative work answers whether and how much. The meaning question from unit 2 is answered here and nowhere else. The universal-pyramid error is applying the intervention hierarchy to every question. It puts qualitative work at the bottom of a ladder built for something else, and judging a study by criteria it never claimed to meet misrepresents the genre. Trustworthiness replaces validity as the standard. Different criteria is not the same as no criteria — this work is appraised rigorously, on its own terms. Three traditions. Ethnography studies a culture from within, over time. Grounded theory builds theory out of the data rather than testing theory against it. Phenomenology studies lived experience as it is lived. And saturation is the stopping rule — collection ends when new data stop adding anything. That is why sample size is the wrong thing to judge this work by, and it is the single most common misreading of a qualitative study. Part B takes up the appraisal criteria themselves, and mixed methods.
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