Reporting Qualitative Research in Psychology

Book excerpt: "Reporting standards are guidelines that describe how to communicate findings clearly in journal articles so that readers can access and understand the story of the research endeavor. Recognizing that reporting standards can aid authors in the process of writing and evaluating manuscripts and editors and reviewers in the process of evaluating those manuscripts, the Publications and Communications (PC) Board of the American Psychological Association (APA) invited two task forces of researchers to develop standards for reporting quantitative and qualitative research in journal articles. The Quantitative Journal Article Reporting Standards Working Group developed standards for quantitative research, and a separate book details those standards. This book discusses the reporting standards. It permits the space to expand on the ideas in those standards and to articulate the rationale behind each. It articulates decisions one may need to make as an author as one decides how to present their work. It also provides examples to illustrate a strong presentation style, and these can serve as helpful models. It provides the conceptual undergirding for the reporting decisions that authors make during the writing process. The book considers the typical sections of a qualitative research paper#x1B;b7#x1B;(Bthe introductory sections, Method, Results, and Discussion. Guidance is provided for how to best present qualitative research, with rationales and illustrations. The book presents reporting standards for qualitative meta-analyses, which are integrative analyses of findings from across primary qualitative research. The book includes a discussion of objectivist and constructivist rhetorical styles in research reporting."--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).