A Review Committee's Guide for Evaluating Qualitative Proposals

Criteria to assess the relevance, rigor, and feasibility of qualitative research are presented, not a checklist but rather a series of questions that can aid a reviewer, adept in qualitative methods, to comprehensively evaluate and defend qualitative research.

Abstract

Although they complain that qualitative proposals are not reviewed fairly when funding agencies use quantitative criteria, qualitative researchers have failed the system by not developing alternative criteria for the evaluation of qualitative proposals. In this article, the author corrects this deficit by presenting criteria to assess the relevance, rigor, and feasibility of qualitative research. These criteria are not a checklist but rather a series of questions that can aid a reviewer, adept in qualitative methods, to comprehensively evaluate and defend qualitative research.