Year: 2015
Type: article
Abstract: As a way of trying to increase the number of qualitative papers submitted to Drug and Alcohol Review, the Editorial Board requested us to undertake a review of qualitative papers published in the journal and to assess our criteria for qualitative research appraisal. Currently, there is no journal dedicated exclusively to qualitative research in the field alcohol and other drugs, and qualitative research makes up a minority output of publications across alcohol and other drug journals 1. In this relatively small research field, it can be difficult to find referees who are experts in both a particular content area and qualitative research methods 2. Consequently, the Drug and Alcohol Review Editorial Board recently expanded the number of managing editors with expertise in qualitative methods from three to five. Reviewing the 138 papers published by the journal in 2014, we found only five qualitative research papers that year; around 4% of the total research papers. In response to this finding, we aimed to encourage the publication of high-quality qualitative papers in this journal and support social science research in the field of alcohol and other drugs. In this review, we consider the role of qualitative methods in alcohol and other drug research and discuss criteria to guide researchers in preparing qualitative papers for submission to this journal. The scope of this review includes qualitative studies involving and reporting on primary fieldwork (observation and/or qualitative interviews/focus groups, etc.), which may also use documents and other materials. Historical research, policy studies and other fields of research, which are mainly based on documents are also invited by the Drug and Alcohol Review Editorial Board and will be considered under similar criteria. However, the primary concern of this review is primary qualitative research. Over the past two decades, qualitative approaches have become increasingly popular in public health and health services research, including in the field of alcohol and other drug use. The contribution of qualitative research to the field spans the investigation of drug treatment and counselling services, drug use patterns and practices, intervention evaluation, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-specific services, and more. Some of the first, and most renowned, studies in the field of alcohol and other drugs involved qualitative research, particularly ethnography, to examine the social contexts of drug markets and drug use in various settings 3-5. Over the years, qualitative research methods and techniques have informed our knowledge and understanding of the health risks associated with alcohol and drug use 6, provided user perspectives on the acceptability of prevention interventions and experiences of treatment and harm-reduction services 7, 8, and examined programme implementation 9. Qualitative methods have enriched the alcohol and other drug field through the identification of new and emerging phenomena 10 and elucidation of social exclusion and inequality 11, 12. Contemporary qualitative data is increasingly employed to review policy 13, 14 and in systematic syntheses 15. Not unlike quantitative methods, qualitative research encompasses a range of methodologies and approaches useful for asking different questions. Broadly however, qualitative research generates data about humans in social settings by focusing on human behaviour, language and perceptions. The researcher is used as a data collection instrument gathering words, texts, sounds, behaviour, images and so on to be analysed inductively 16. Less structured than quantitative studies, qualitative research designs involve the collection of in-depth data from small sample sizes. Qualitative researchers seek to develop a deep understanding of a specific phenomenon, rather than a general description of a large population sample. In-depth data are used for generating hypotheses, rather than testing. Qualitative research seeks to record and understand the subjective meanings attached to behaviours and feelings, emphasising the socially situated nature of individual action 17. The methods employed are explicitly interpretive, creative and personal. Because of inherent flexibility and interest in understanding the issue from the participants' perspective, qualitative research methods are ideally suited to conducting studies among hard-to-reach populations, identifying and interpreting 'risk behaviours' associated with drug use, and understanding the social context of drug use 17. The alcohol and other drug field is dominated by the theoretical and methodological epistemologies of the biological and laboratory sciences 1. Better integration of qualitative descriptive data, theoretical advances and critical approaches to issues in the field will allow for complex insights into the social and cultural contexts in which drug use, policy, laws, treatment and so on occurs. We agree that qualitative research cannot and should not be made to conform to the definitions of experimental, epidemiological and clinical research, and that qualitative researchers should not disengage from theory or simplify their analyses in order fit into alcohol and drug journals 1, 18. Thus, general criteria for assessing the credibility and rigour of qualitative research should require enough flexibility and space for interpretive inquiry, while at the same time, providing guidelines for rigour and presentation of evidence. Later, we outline the key criteria for review and acceptance recommended as a result of this review. These criteria are based on the knowledge and experiences of the Editorial Board in light of other resources on the topic 19-23 (Table 1). The quantity and presentation of qualitative data means that word limits imposed by journals can be problematic for qualitative researchers. Currently, this journal imposes a 3500 word limit on original papers. On review of the author guidelines and issues restricting publication of qualitative research in the field, the Editorial Board will now offer a word limit up to 4500 words for papers that present original qualitative data. The increased word limit allows for sufficient inclusion of data (extracts and quotations) and excludes the use of tables. Drug and Alcohol Review is keen to increase the number of qualitative research papers published. We hope that this editorial goes some way to encouraging a broader scope of qualitative research papers submitted to the journal and invite authors to contact us to discuss opportunities for publication.
Source: Drug and Alcohol Review
DOI: 10.1111/dar.12307
Authors: Anna Olsen, Peter Higgs, Lisa Maher
Language: Hebrew
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W1832859837