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How many qualitative interviews is enough? Expert voices and early career reflections on sampling and cases in qualitative research

How many qualitative interviews is enough? Expert voices and early career reflections on sampling and cases in qualitative research
How many qualitative interviews is enough? Expert voices and early career reflections on sampling and cases in qualitative research
Students conducting a piece of qualitative research frequently ask ‘how many interviews is enough?’ Early career researchers and established academics also consider this question when designing research projects. In this NCRM Methods Review paper we gather and review responses to the question of ‘how many’ from 14 renowned social scientists and 5 early career researchers. The riposte to the question of ‘how many’ from most contributors is ‘it depends’. In considering what ‘it depends upon’ however, the responses offer guidance on the epistemological, methodological and practical issues to take into account when conducting research projects. This includes advice about assessing research aims and objectives, validity within epistemic communities and available time and resources
National Centre for Research Methods, School of Social Sciences, University of Southampton
Baker, Sarah Elsie
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Edwards, Rosalind
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Baker, Sarah Elsie
5755e1a0-d39f-411f-860c-3f54f1a3ab80
Edwards, Rosalind
e43912c0-f149-4457-81a9-9c4e00a4bb42

Baker, Sarah Elsie and Edwards, Rosalind (eds.) (2012) How many qualitative interviews is enough? Expert voices and early career reflections on sampling and cases in qualitative research (National Centre for Research Methods Reviews) Southampton, GB. National Centre for Research Methods, School of Social Sciences, University of Southampton 43pp.

Record type: Monograph (Working Paper)

Abstract

Students conducting a piece of qualitative research frequently ask ‘how many interviews is enough?’ Early career researchers and established academics also consider this question when designing research projects. In this NCRM Methods Review paper we gather and review responses to the question of ‘how many’ from 14 renowned social scientists and 5 early career researchers. The riposte to the question of ‘how many’ from most contributors is ‘it depends’. In considering what ‘it depends upon’ however, the responses offer guidance on the epistemological, methodological and practical issues to take into account when conducting research projects. This includes advice about assessing research aims and objectives, validity within epistemic communities and available time and resources

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More information

Published date: 2012
Organisations: Sociology, Social Policy & Criminology

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 336913
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/336913
PURE UUID: 8476ed25-e977-4a58-90f1-345c6292351d
ORCID for Rosalind Edwards: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3512-9029

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 11 Apr 2012 13:03
Last modified: 10 Apr 2024 01:45

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Contributors

Editor: Sarah Elsie Baker

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