Is Qualitative Research Second Class Science? A Quantitative Longitudinal Examination of Qualitative Research in Medical Journals

Abstract

BackgroundQualitative research appears to be gaining acceptability in medical journals. Yet, little is actually known about the proportion of qualitative research and factors affecting its publication. This study describes the proportion of qualitative research over a 10 year period and correlates associated with its publication.DesignA quantitative longitudinal examination of the proportion of original qualitative research in 67 journals of general medicine during a 10 year period (1998–2007). The proportion of qualitative research was determined by dividing original qualitative studies published (numerator) by all original research articles published (denominator). We used a generalized estimating equations approach to assess the longitudinal association between the proportion of qualitative studies and independent variables (i.e. journals' country of publication and impact factor; editorial/methodological papers discussing qualitative research; and specific journal guidelines pertaining to qualitative research).FindingsA 2.9% absolute increase and 3.4-fold relative increase in qualitative research publications occurred over a 10 year period (1.2% in 1998 vs. 4.1% in 2007). The proportion of original qualitative research was independently and significantly associated with the publication of editorial/methodological papers in the journal (b = 3.688, P = 0.012); and with qualitative research specifically mentioned in guidelines for authors (b = 6.847, P<0.001). Additionally, a higher proportion of qualitative research was associated only with journals published in the UK in comparison to other countries, yet with borderline statistical significance (b = 1.776, P = 0.075). The journals' impact factor was not associated with the publication of qualitative research.ConclusionsDespite an increase in the proportion of qualitative research in medical journals over a 10 year period, the proportion remains low. Journals' policies pertaining to qualitative research, as expressed by the appearance of specific guidelines and editorials/methodological papers on the subject, are independently associated with the publication of original qualitative research; irrespective of the journals' impact factor.

A Current View of the Thesis by Publication in the Humanities and Social Sciences

“…7). The result is that certain types of studies are marginalised in some research communities, posing a challenge for successful publication (Gagliardi & Dobrow, 2011;Shuval et al, 2011). Furthermore, HSS studies are often defined by ontological positions which reject the idea that there is one single truth, viewing social phenomena and their meanings as socially constructed and context dependent (Bryman, 2001).…”

Qualitative Research in Epidemiology

“…By using integrated knowledge from natural sciences with insights from population sciences and the humanities and social sciences, qualitative research has been gaining a greater influence both in the development of epidemiology (Daly et al, 2007;Lloyd, 2000;Long & Eskin, 1995) and in the organization and delivery of healthcare (Shuval et al, 2011). In spite of the growing acceptance of qualitative methods in health sciences, most biomedical scientists have tended to devalue the contributions of interpretative research methods (Albert et al, 2008).…”

“…By contrast, qualitative research and interpretative methods have been dismissed as subjective, soft and unscientific (Green & Britten, 1998) or second class science (Shuval et al, 2011), and their findings have been deemed thin, trite, and banal (Lambert & McKevitt, 2002).…”

On the qualities of qualitative research

“…Despite the clear relevance of qualitative research, it continues to account for a small minority of medical publications. 2 Accordingly, Bould et al 's manuscript in this edition of the Journal represents something of a rarity. Their paper reports on an interview-based study in which faculty participating in an international educational initiative to provide training to anesthesia providers in Zambia describe their experiences.…”

“…En dépit de la pertinence évidente de la recherche qualitative, elle continue à ne représenter qu'une petite part minoritaire des publications médicales. 2 En conséquence, l'article de Bould et coll. publié dans ce numéro du Journal représente quelque chose de rare.…”