ABSTRACT
Practices of qualitative research are in one sense the more explicit processes or tools of inquiry. This chapter explains why an approach to critical qualitative research in healthcare, exploring philosophies, politics and practices, is necessary. Philosophy is a notoriously difficult term to sum up; given its many meanings, arguments and contested areas of specialism and with disciplines ranging from epistemology, logic, ethics, aesthetics, metaphysics and politics. The politics of research is clearly inherent to all the aforementioned debates and developments given that politics is a term best understood as being concerned with power and people. In exploring qualitative research and healthcare, it is worth noting the debates over whether researchers merely use qualitative research as derived from social sciences, and transfer or apply to different settings, or whether qualitative research in these settings is different or distinctive. The chapter also presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book.
