ABSTRACT

Following a report of a 15-fold increase in published qualitative studies catalogued in PsycNET between 1995 and 2016, researchers engaged in a closer examination of changes in published qualitative research. Four questions are addressed: (1) Can the reported 15-fold increase of published qualitative studies indexed in a psychology database be replicated using a similar database? (2) If the increase in qualitative articles is adapted from the raw number to the relative number of qualitative publications compared to non-qualitative (e.g., quantitative, review articles) publications, does the 15-fold rate of change hold, increase, or decrease? (3) Are there specific domains that have contributed disproportionately to the increase in qualitative articles? and (4) As the proliferation of published qualitative research is examined, what portion of qualitative work is published in moderate- to high-impact journals compared to low-quality or non-indexed journals? Each of these questions are systematically addressed using PsycINFO. Results suggest that while the 15-fold increase in raw numbers is replicable, the relative increase of qualitative articles is a more modest sixfold increase. Further, much of the increase in qualitative articles appears to stem from journals related to healthcare. Finally, results suggest that the increase in quantity may be associated with a slight decline of the quality of research being published.

摘要

继 1995 年至 2016 年间 PsycNET 中已发表的定性研究增加了 15 倍的报告之后，研究人员对已发表的定性研究的变化进行了更仔细的检查。解决了四个问题：（1）在心理学数据库中索引的已发表定性研究报告增加了 15 倍，是否可以使用类似的数据库进行复制？(2) 如果定性文章的增加从原始数量调整为与非定性（例如，定量、评论文章）出版物相比的定性出版物的相对数量，15 倍的变化率是否保持、增加或减少？(3) 是否有特定领域对定性文章的增加做出了不成比例的贡献？(4) 随着已发表的定性研究的激增受到审查，与低质量或非索引期刊相比，在中到高影响力期刊上发表的定性工作有多少？这些问题中的每一个都使用 PsycINFO 系统地解决。结果表明，虽然原始数量增加了 15 倍是可复制的，但定性文章的相对增加是较为温和的 6 倍。此外，定性文章的大部分增加似乎源于与医疗保健相关的期刊。最后，结果表明，数量的增加可能与发表的研究质量略有下降有关。结果表明，虽然原始数量增加了 15 倍是可复制的，但定性文章的相对增加是较为温和的 6 倍。此外，定性文章的大部分增加似乎源于与医疗保健相关的期刊。最后，结果表明，数量的增加可能与发表的研究质量略有下降有关。结果表明，虽然原始数量增加了 15 倍是可复制的，但定性文章的相对增加是较为温和的 6 倍。此外，定性文章的大部分增加似乎源于与医疗保健相关的期刊。最后，结果表明，数量的增加可能与发表的研究质量略有下降有关。