Response to Tracy's under the "big tent": establishing universal criteria for evaluating qualitative research

Abstract

In this paper, we consider Tracy's proposal for universal criteria to judge the goodness of qualitative studies, and we explore her criteria by applying them to our own work. As a test of Tracy's claim to universality, we situate her ideas within a womanist caring framework, using it as an exemplar to theorize deliberately Tracy's criteria. We do this to evaluate just how theoretically limber Tracy's criteria actually are. We conclude that Tracy's criteria are useful because they are universal but not fixed and we build on her thinking to foreground ethics as an overarching framework for criteria rather than a standalone category. We highlight the urgency of returning the debate about criteria for qualitative work to the qualitative research community during a period when the legitimacy of qualitative work is under assault.