Objectivity in Qualitative Research

Qualitative researchers sometimes talk about objectivity in relation to qualitative data sets. In this talk, I defend an account of objective qualitative data sets that may serve as a useful guiding ideal in qualitative research.

In the first part of the paper, I briefly present the qualitative methods of participant observation and qualitative interviewing. Then, inspired by Alison Wylie’s account of an objective theory, I argue that a qualitative data set is objective to the extent that it, in conjunction with correct assumptions, possesses a combination of good-making features (epistemic virtues, epistemic values). These features include the data being descriptively adequate, reactivity transparent, deception transparent, and relevant, and the data set as a whole being balanced and sufficiently large. In virtue of having these features, I contend, a data set is suited to serve as evidence base for the final research report.

In the second part of the paper, I defend this account against two possible lines of objection. One is that there are problems with the suggested good-making features: my list of features is, in one way or another, in need of revision. The other line is that the very focus on these good-making features is misguided: in order to serve as a useful guiding ideal, the objectivity of qualitative data should instead be spelled out in terms of various practices to be adopted at the individual or community level.