ABSTRACT
This chapter explains that qualitative research can be done in a scientific fashion with rigor and precision. Skeptical consumers frequently describe qualitative research with words like "soft", "impressionistic", "ideological", and "anecdotal". If qualitative research is not science, then it cannot contribute to a sound evidence base in health care policy and practice. Qualitative researchers have traditionally been cautious about claiming that their work was scientific. The "right-on" schools have exaggerated this caution into an outright rejection of science as a model for their work. Skeptical consumers frequently charge qualitative research reports with being indistinguishable from forms of writing like journalism and fiction. Ironically, many contemporary qualitative researchers would take this as praise rather than as criticism. A final common criticism that is frequently leveled at qualitative research by skeptics relates to its supposedly political nature.
