Establishing rigour in qualitative research: the decision trail
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to show the way in which the decision trail of a qualitative research process can be maintained. It is argued that the trustworthiness (rigour) of a study may be established if the reader is able to audit the events, influences and actions of the researcher. The actual study containing the recording of this decision trail aimed to express the concerns of older patients who were admitted to the acute care sector. The study took place in two care of the elderly wards in a 1000-bed National Health Service hospital in the UK, in 1991. Eventually, 14 patients were interviewed, each on several occasions, and their concerns are expressed in themes, namely: routine geriatric style of care, depersonalization, care deprivation and geriatric segregation. I describe the preparations that were undertaken before patient interviews could commence. The literature recording the process of the interviewer's experience as data in qualitative research is scarce. I show the researcher's participation in making the data as part of an existential phenomenological research process. Existential phenomenology relies on recording influences while generating data such as significant literature, media reports, my value position and journal data.
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An audit trail was maintained throughout data analysis to document decisions made.
“An audit trail was maintained throughout data analysis to document decisions made (Koch, 1994).”
From Exploring the experiences of social loafing in group work among online psychology students (2025) · cites this paper as Koch, 1994
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“Although this debate is now thought to be redundant (Crotty, 1998; Emden & Sandelowski, 1998; Patton, 2002), interpretive research still requires a trail of evidence throughout the research process to demonstrate credibility or trustworthiness (Koch 1994).”
BackgroundQualitative Content Analysis: A Focus on Trustworthiness
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- Authors
- Koch, T.
- Affiliations
- Flinders University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Koch, Tina
- ORCID
- Koch, Tina
- Venue
- Journal of Advanced Nursing
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 1994-05
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 976-986
- ISSN
- 0309-2402 (ISSN-L)
- 1365-2648
- OpenAlex
- W2140534260
- Cited by
- 1,127
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 31 · 2025: 33 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 39 · 2022: 44 · 2021: 47 · 2020: 58 · 2019: 46 · 2018: 47 · 2017: 47 · 2016: 52 · 2015: 80 · 2014: 59 · 2013: 66 · 2012: 54
- FWCI
- 30.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Advanced Nursing (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics
- Social Sciences › Education › Qualitative Research Methods and Applications
- Social Sciences › Education › Qualitative research in health
- Keywords
- scientific rigor, trustworthiness, qualitative research methodology, researcher reflexivity, existential phenomenology, elderly patients, elderly care, depersonalization
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Conflict, Psychological, Decision Making, Female, Geriatric Nursing, United Kingdom, Humans, Male, Nurses, Prejudice, Professional-Patient Relations, Quality of Health Care, Records, Research Personnel, Role, Reproducibility of Results, Clinical Nursing Research
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