Trustworthiness of Qualitative Writing and Research Methodology Essay - 12

Trustworthiness of Qualitative Writing and Research Methodology - Essay Example Richardson and Adams explore the topic of qualitative research by attempting to analyze key aspects of qualitative writing. Richardson notes that in the world of qualitative writing two sets namely, literary and scientific exist. She notes that even though there seems to be a blur between the two genres, the distinction between them lies in the nature of the claim made by the author in the article. However, Richardson observes that post-modern ideas have helped resolve this issue, as it has made it easier to tell between based on such concepts as post-structuralism, a concept, she notes, that allows us to link the language used, social organization, subjectivity, and power. She observes that this interconnection directs qualitative writers towards understanding themselves reflexively, and equally frees them from consolidating all information that targets a myriad of an audience in one piece, instead of developing different pieces for the different audience. Postmodernism also claims that regardless of the extent to which a writer tries to suppress his/her presence in a qualitative article, the writer is always present and that the partial and situational nature of writing is a testimony to this fact. This, therefore, implies that a qualitative paper must meet the following key criteria: the paper must contribute to a substantive understanding of social life and the analytical approaches used in the paper must give room for interpretive responses. In addition, there has to be adequate self-awareness and self-exposure that enables the reader to make a conclusive judgment about the opinion presented by the writer, and finally, the paper ought to have an impact that for instance, can motivate the need for further research on the same.