La ¿limitada? capacidad de generalización de los hallazgos de la investigación cualitativa

Abstract

One of the main critics usually done to qualitative research refers to its low capacity for generalizing their findings to other populations. It is understood that, as it is a highly contextualized research, highly rooted to cultural models from the population where participants were selected, results cannot be extrapolated beyond the “sample” where information was collected, but perhaps this critic should not be so solid. Actually, qualitative research is used for including citizen participation as well as for evaluating the embrace to health or social programs and other objectives which could be understood as a generalized use for qualitative research. Thus, it seems transferability of qualitative research depends on its quality and rigour (just the same as epidemiological research, isn’t it?).