In this article, the authors discuss the issue of rigor in relation to qualitative social research. It takes a critical focus on the inadequacy of applying a quantitative concept of rigor to evaluate qualitative research. Informed through the researchers' own experience, suggestions are made for a concept of rigor that meets the needs of qualitative research more adequately. Incorporating a notion of ethics, the authors develop a cluster of terms around which they argue that qualitative research can meaningfully speak about rigor: attentiveness, empathy, carefulness, sensitivity, respect, reflection, conscientiousness, engagement, awareness, and openness.
Constructing the 'ideal' family for family centred practice: challenges for delivery.Family centred practice positions families as the key decision makers, central to, and experts in, the wants and needs of their child. This paper discusses how families interviewed for a Western Australian study describe their relationships with a range of allied health professionals in the paediatric disability sector. The allied health professionals, in turn, describe how they characterise the role of families caring for children with disabilities. We argue that the successful implementation of family centred principles in service delivery need to move beyond the individualising of responsibility and acknowledge the structural and systemic limits to family centred practice as well as the social complexity within which diverse families live.
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