Rigor in Qualitative Social Work Research: A Review of Strategies Used in Published Articles

This study was conducted to describe strategies used by social work researchers to enhance the rigor of their qualitative work. A template was developed and used to review a random sample of 100 articles drawn from social work journals listed in the 2005 Journal Citation Reports: Science and Social Sciences Edition. Results suggest that the most commonly applied strategies were use of a sampling rationale (67%), analyst triangulation (59%), and mention of methodological limitations (56%); the least common were negative or deviant case analysis (8%), external audit (7%), and specification of ontology (6%). Of eight key criteria, researchers used an average of 2.0 (SD = 1.5); however, the number used increased significantly between 2003 and 2008. The authors suggest that for this trend to continue, social work educators, journal editors, and researchers must reinforce the judicious application of strategies for enhancing the rigor of qualitative work.