More than just great quotes: An introduction to the

COMMENTARY

More than just great quotes: An introduction to the Canadian Tri-Council's qualitative requirements Jody Boffa MScl, Nanry Moules RN PhD2, Maria Mayan phD3, Robert L Cowie MSc MD FCpl

J Boffa, N Moules, M Mayan, RL Cowie. More than just great quotes: An intodoction to the Canadian Tri.Council's qualitative requirements. Can J Infect Dis Med Microbiol 2O13.24(2\: 103.108. Although at times rnisunderstood by the general research communiry, qualitarive raearch has developed out of diverse, rich and complex philosophical rraditions and thmretical paradigms, in the most recent Canadian Tii,Council policy statement on the ethical conduct of research involving humans, a chaprcr was devoted to a summary of methods and methodological requirements that characterize robust qualitative resealch, despite the diversity of apprc,aches. To dispel comrlon misperceptiorx about qualiative research and introduce the unfarniliar reader to these requirements, the work of a qualitative study on isoniazid prevenrive rherapy for prophylanis of tuberculcsis published in AIDS is cririqued alongside each of the Tii-C-ouncil's nine

Plus que d'excellentes citations : introduction aux exigences qualitatives des trois Conseils du Canada M€me si elle est parfois mal cornprise de I'eruemhle du milieu de la recberche, la recherche qualirative est issue de rraditiors philosophiques et de paradigmes rh6oriques diversifi6s, riches er complexes,

Un chapitre du plus r6cent 6nonc6 des polidques

des tnris Conseils sur

l'6thique de la recherche avec des €tres hunains €tait consacr6 i tn r6sum6 des m€thodes et exigences rn6thodologiques qui caract6risent de solides recherches qualitatives, malgrd la diversit6 des approches. Pour dissiper ies conceptions erron6es relatives A 1a recherche quantitative et prdsenter ces exigences au lecteur qui 1es connait moins, 1es auteurs critiquent une 6tude qualitative sur 1a th6rapie prdventive h f isoniazide en prnphylaxie de la nrberculose publide dans AIDS par rappon

i

chacune des neuf exigences des trois Conseiis,

requirentents. Key Wctdsr

C*uda; Mixedrwdtads; Qlwlitznre nle*ads: T,ri.Cmrrcil

the clinician or quantitative researcher untrained in qualitative approaches, qualitarive research may at first appear tc) lack rigour and significance. Those in the human sciences may argue that poor .xanrples in quantitatrve research mighr also be appropriately judgecl as such. lv4ore convincing is the recognition that quantitafive research

fo I

is over-represented in \Testera research paradigms, and standards for critique of rasearch disproporcionately include quantitative language and expectations. Faiiure ro distinguish between appropriate qualitative and quantitarive requiremenrs has perperuated the misguided belief that qualitative research requires ncr particular skiil. Openended quesriom on a questionnaire or the inclusinn of incei views in a research design are at times held as sufficient conditions for research ro be corsidered "qualitative". lf this were the case, mortgage application^s wculd be researclr tocls, and the hosx o{ Entenainm*tt Tonifitt would be researchers.

Simply, the difference berween qualitative and qr:anritadve research is in the prefix; qualimtive studies investigate the qualiries of an experiencq u'hile quantitative studies measure and interpret num.

ericai output. Depoy and

Gidin (1) outlined qualitative

research as a inductive reasoning,

naturalistic form of inquiry through rhe use of whereby parterns are created based on olxervariorx. They dlstingnished qualitative from quantirative or "etperimental-rype" rsearch, which uses primarily deductive reasoning through the use of hlpothesis t€sti11g (1). Mayan (2) described qualitative research as inrerpreting or making sense of the meaning people attach ro rheir expenences wllich, rather than con*olling particular variables, invires "context, complexitv and 'conf