Rigor and ethics in the world of big-team qualitative data: Experiences from research in international development

Camfield, Laura ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0165-9857 (2019) Rigor and ethics in the world of big-team qualitative data: Experiences from research in international development. American Behavioral Scientist, 63 (5). pp. 604-621. ISSN 1552-3381

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Abstract

In the large international projects where many qualitative researchers work, generating qualitative Big Data, data sharing represents the status quo. This is rarely acknowledged, even though the ethical implications are considerable and span both process and product. I argue that big-team qualitative researchers can strengthen claims to rigor in analysis (the product) by drawing on a growing body of knowledge about how to do credible secondary analysis. Since this necessitates a full account of how the research and the analysis are done (the process), I consider the structural disincentives for providing these. Debates around credibility and rigor are not new to qualitative research in international development, but they intensify when new actors such as program evaluators and quantitative researchers use qualitative methods on a large scale. In this context, I look at the utility of guidelines used by these actors to ensure the quality of qualitative research. I ask whether these offer pragmatic suggestions to improve its quality, recognizing the common and hierarchized separation between the generation and interpretation of data, or conversely, whether they set impossible standards and fail to recognize the differences between and respective strengths of qualitative and quantitative research.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: secondary qualitative data analysis,computer assisted data analysis,ethics,quality,rigor
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Global Development (formerly School of International Development)
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Gender and Development
Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Impact Evaluation
Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Life Course, Migration and Wellbeing
University of East Anglia Schools > Faculty of Science > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
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Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 06 Jul 2018 10:30
Last Modified: 05 Apr 2024 00:34
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/67532
DOI: 10.1177/0002764218784636

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