What constitutes a good qualitative research study? Fundamental dimensions and indicators of rigour in qualitative research: The TACT framework

Abstract

What constitutes a good qualitative research study? There is a growing interest in qualitative research methodology as a legitimate approach to research questions across disciplines and domains. However, a common concern raised and discussed within qualitative researchers and others outside the methodology discipline is the characterisation of qualitative findings as anecdotalism, unsystematic, and inconsistency, likely leading to the implausibility of research outcomes. Assessing the quality of research to ensure rigour in the findings is critical if findings are to contribute to theory and be utilised in practice. However, teaching students concepts of rigour and how to apply them to their research is challenging. This paper presents a generic framework with four critical dimensions-Trustworthiness, Auditability, Credibility and Transferability (TACT) intended to guide postgraduate students and those new to qualitative research methodology, a framework to enable them to explore the key dimensions necessary for assessing the rigour of qualitative research studies. Also, the paper presents a checklist questions against each of the dimensions. TACT is intended for teaching the issues of rigour to students and those new to qualitative research. Work presented in the paper is part of a large research programme investigating the pedagogy of research methods in higher education.