The Elephant in the Living Room or Extending the Conversation about the Politics of Evidence

Qualitative researchers are caught in the middle of a global conversation concerning the evidence-based research movement and emerging standards and guidelines for conducting and evaluating qualitative inquiry (St. Pierre 2006). This conversation turns on issues surrounding the politics and ethics of evidence and the value of qualitative work in addressing matters of equity and social justice (Lather 2006: 789). In some senses this is like old wine in new bottles, 1980s battles in a new century.