{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,26]],"date-time":"2026-10-26T06:02:43Z","timestamp":1792994563051,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[1983,12,1]],"date-time":"1983-12-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":439084800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Knowledge"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[1983,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>This essay has two objectives. The first is to argue, from both philosophical and empirical perspectives, that all approaches to inquiry are inherently qualitative in nature. The second is to demonstrate that the evolution of inquiry systems has progressed through five distinct stages, each of which can be distinguished by a particular set of assumptions and procedures that inform the inquiry process. Each evolutionary stage also possesses its own characteristic guarantor of validity, that is, a key rule or set of rules meant to insure that the given approach to inquiry indeed measures that which it purports to measure. Implications for knowledge creation and utilization are discussed in some detail.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/107554708300500201","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2007,3,11]],"date-time":"2007-03-11T05:33:33Z","timestamp":1173591213000},"page":"147-167","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":27,"title":["Notions of Validity in Qualitative Research Methodology"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"5","author":[{"given":"John W.","family":"Ratcliffe","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of California, Berkeley"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[1983,12,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"atypb1","volume-title":"Redesigning the Future","author":"Ackoff, R.L.","year":"1974"},{"key":"atypb2","volume-title":"Mind and Nature","author":"Bateson, G.","year":"1979"},{"key":"atypb3","volume-title":"\"Qualitative knowing in action research.\" Kurt Lewin Award Address, Society for the the Psychological Study of Social Issues","author":"Campbell, D.T.","year":"1974"},{"key":"atypb4","volume-title":"Models of Man","year":"1980"},{"key":"atypb5","volume-title":"The Design of Inquiring Systems","author":"Churchman, C.W.","year":"1971"},{"key":"atypb6","volume-title":"Method and Measurement in Sociology","author":"Cicourel, A.V.","year":"1964"},{"key":"atypb7","volume-title":"Understanding and Social Inquiry","author":"Dallmayr, F.R.","year":"1977"},{"key":"atypb8","volume-title":"Against Method","author":"Feyerabend, R.","year":"1975"},{"key":"atypb9","series-title":"Human Inquiry: A Sourcebook of New Paradigm Research","volume-title":"\"Philosophical basis for a new paradigm,\"","author":"Heron, J.","year":"1981"},{"key":"atypb10","volume-title":"The Structure of Scientific Revolutions","author":"Kuhn, T.","year":"1970"},{"key":"atypb11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9781139171434.009"},{"key":"atypb12","volume-title":"Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge","year":"1970"},{"key":"atypb13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.217.4555.104"},{"key":"atypb14","unstructured":"Marney, M. and P. 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