Issues of Representation within Qualitative Inquiry

Bibliographic Data

ID5454764
AuthorsStefanos Mantzouka (0000-0003-1471-5966, University of West London, corresponding author), Stefanos Mantzoukas (Institute of Human and Health Sciences, Thames Valley University, London.)
Year2004
Volume14
Issue7
Pages994-1007
Publication date2004-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueQualitative Health Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1049-7323 • E-ISSN: 1552-7557
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1049732304265959
PMID15296668
OpenAlexW2103979518
LanguageEN
Citations received24
References cited57

Although qualitative inquiry has developed into a popularized and very useful way of conducting research within the health sciences, there has been a relatively disproportionate amount of literature devoted to 'who' is represented in such inquiries. It is most often assumed that the end text should present an objective, value-free, and accurate representation of the participants and therefore exclude by all means the researcher's presence from the study. Although this might hold grounds for some inquiries, it is not necessarily the norm of a qualitative research. In this article, the author argues that the representation of the researcher in qualitative inquiries is inevitable, and the exclusion, or not, of the researcher from the text is a mere conventional agreement founded on a paradigmatic consensus. He concludes with the notion that there is a correlation between issues of representation and the researcher's stated epistemological and ontological assumptions

Epistemology · Political science · Politics · Qualitative research · Social science · Sociology · Computer Science · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Qualitative Research Methods and Applications · Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics · Social Science and Policy Research

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