Qualitative research methods are increasingly utilised by health researchers. Along with this the criteria for assessing the quality of qualitative research are changing from a natural science model to an interpretative social science model. This is a product of the realisation by health researchers that qualitative methods utilise a different epistemology to statistical methods. I demonstrate that a recent article in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health draws on a now outdated natural science methodology of assessing bias in focus groups. Drawing on interpretativist social science theory and recent work in the British Medical Journal. I argue for the importance of examining the social contexts through which qualitative data is produced.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Medical and Health Sciences
Research Group:	Public Health and Health Services
Research Field:	Public Health and Health Services not elsewhere classified
Objective Division:	Health
Objective Group:	Other Health
Objective Field:	Health not elsewhere classified
Author:	Ezzy, D (Professor Douglas Ezzy)
ID Code:	21187
Year Published:	2001
Web of Science® Times Cited:	16
Deposited By:	Sociology and Social Work
Deposited On:	2001-08-01
Last Modified:	2002-05-21
Downloads:	0