In 1993, Catherine Pope and Nicholas Mays argued for greater use of qualitative techniques in health research. They published several good papers that helped researchers understand what qualitative research is. They suggested that researchers would benefit in using qualitative methods. Since then qualitative research methods is widely accepted in health services research.
Now they are worried the methods are not always used properly.
Please read their article in this week BMJ where they critically evaluate how far qualitative research has come. They ask some thorough questions whether researchers use qualitative research to its full potential.
Pope C, Mays N, Critical reflections on the rise of qualitative research. BMJ 2009;339:b3425