Evaluation Stages of Qualitative Research – Constructivist Perspective

Abstract

The article presents the evaluation stages of qualitative research within the constructivist approach. The stages can be placed on a continuum and treated as the obverse and reverse of the same internally diverse phenomenon. Differences described in analyses of individual development stages of these criteria are related to major influences of different paradigms. The whole allows us to see the crystallisation of the research practice that has different values depending on its version. During the first stage, criteria of research evaluation are strongly influenced by the positivist and post-positivist paradigms. In the second stage, they become a direct emanation of proper constructivist assumptions. In the following stage, one can see the process of gradual emancipation of the research practice from the straitjacket of fixed assumptions; when each time researchers make pragmatic assumptions, they select a set of specific criteria of research quality. During the final stage, the researcher is rehabilitated as the most important instrument of cognition. Verifiability of such research refers to the researcher’s skills and sensitivity, self-control, and interpersonal exchange of knowledge. The evaluation criteria developed in the article can be treated as guidelines supporting the process of designing and conducting qualitative research. Their application might contribute to maintaining high quality of research.