Qualitative health geography reaches the mainstream

This chapter describes two main goals. The first is to define "qualitative research" in a way that not only acknowledges that qualitative approaches are indeed different from quantitative ones, but also recognizes that such differences can be blurry in practice. The second is to trace some key points of tension concerning qualitative approaches, including such issues as counting or quantification, assessing the quality of empirical work (rigor), and determining how to mix qualitative and quantitative methods in the same study (Crang, 2002). The chapter focuses on some tensions that arise when we try to define "qualitative research," particularly with reference to quantitative/qualitative dualisms. It details three others that, in one way or another, represent sets of decision-points for qualitative health researchers: how to assess the quality of empirical qualitative research work, the role of member checking for addressing rigor and whether and how qualitative and quantitative methods should be mixed.