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Open research questions in Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics

240 gap statements mined from Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 4,348 papers on the topic — drawn mostly from each paper's own stated research gap, future-work, challenge and limitation notes, and its abstract. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one.

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What the literature leaves open

  • The gap between the importance of research in academic medicine and the lack of institutional support for researchers. The gap between the need for researchers to be resilient and the unsustainable nature of this expectation.

    The researcher is “not” an afterthought · 2026 · DOI

  • It highlights the need for a deeper understanding of the complexities of researching authoritarianism.

    Researching the authoritarian: a conversation on methodology and ethics in closed contexts · 2026 · DOI

  • Ableism and perceptions of disability add additional layers of complexity that are currently under-researched.

    Self-reflexivity as a methodological framework for conducting research in inclusive education in the global South · 2026 · DOI

  • Field-based sociological and anthropological studies in Gaza remain scarce because the city’s prolonged siege and recurrent Israeli military assaults severely restrict access, making in-depth, on-the-ground research nearly impossible.

    “Situated fieldwork at a distance”: the negotiation of ethics and knowledge production under Gaza’s siege · 2026 · DOI

  • Domestic work in post-Apartheid South Africa involves the hiring of family and friends as domestic workers, and this is an under-researched area.

    My Research Journey into Family Domestic Work: Methodological Reflections of Conducting Research with Sister-Maids and Sister-Madams in Limpopo · 2025 · DOI

  • Future research may consider the use of the strategies explored here to enhance the reflexive process, and support future researchers in this field to conduct research that aims to support an often-misheard population to better support health outcomes.

    Conducting mixed methods research with women in a forensic mental health setting: A reflexive account from a nurse as researcher · 2024 · DOI

  • This paper began by identifying a significant gap in the literature: while reflexivity is widely acknowledged as essential to qualitative research, and insider-researchers face particular challenges in managing positionality, comparatively little attention has been paid to how software tools such as NVivo might support structured reflexive practice in this context.

    NVivo as a reflexive tool for insider-researchers: early observations from an ongoing study · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research could explore the application of CUAR in different fields and contexts. Further studies could investigate the impact of CUAR on social justice and human well-being.

    Analysis in action research · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research can build on the findings of this study by exploring the use of the written postcard exercise in different contexts. Further studies can investigate the significance of non-relational information in understanding sibling relationships.

    The sibling postcard exercise - substance and methodology · 2026 · DOI

  • Further studies should investigate demand characteristics bias in different research contexts. The development of more reflexive methodologies is needed to address demand characteristics bias. Research should consider the ways in which research interactions influence participant responses.

    “I Thought I Should Give You Good Answers”: Evidence of Demand Characteristics Bias in a Research Interview · 2026 · DOI

  • There is a lack of dedicated studies on the effects of demand characteristics on research participant behaviors outside laboratory settings. The study addresses this gap by investigating demand characteristics bias in a real-world research context.

    “I Thought I Should Give You Good Answers”: Evidence of Demand Characteristics Bias in a Research Interview · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research could further explore Patti Lather's work and its impact on qualitative research. It could also examine the applications of Lather's concepts in various fields and contexts.

    Engaging Boldly to (Re)Think Methodology · 2026 · DOI

  • It highlights the need for further exploration of Lather's concepts and their influence on the field.

    Engaging Boldly to (Re)Think Methodology · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research should explore the comparative and analytic utility of the framework for understanding methodological choices for a single methodology, for multiple methodologies from across paradigms, such as case study or grounded theory approaches (i.e., inter-paradigm methodological analysis), and for multiple methodologies within paradigms (intra-paradigm methodological analysis).

    Reconnecting Definitions and Decisions in Research Methodology: A Continuum Framework Linking Worldview to Technique · 2026 · DOI

  • The lack of clear, shared criteria for judging practical relevance.

    Beyond applicability: Rethinking how educational research serves practice · 2026 · DOI

  • The scope, function, and reporting quality of LLM use in qualitative research remain poorly understood. Existing reporting guidelines for qualitative research provide minimal guidance for documenting LLM use.

    The use and methodological reporting of large language models in qualitative research: a scoping review · 2026 · DOI

  • The study suggests that future research should address more topics or provide more depth on the subject. The study suggests that future research should explore other aspects of methodologies.

    Qualitativa, quantitativa ou quali-quantitativa: Como identificar de modo rápido a abordagem de um artigo científico? · 2026 · DOI

  • The study highlights the need for a brief overview of the characteristics of each approach.

    Qualitativa, quantitativa ou quali-quantitativa: Como identificar de modo rápido a abordagem de um artigo científico? · 2026 · DOI

  • Firstly, memoing should not be treated as a one-off or purely retrospective activity, but instead revisited iteratively throughout the analytic process, allowing earlier reflections to be re-interrogated and recontextualised alongside emerging codes, themes, and new fieldwork.

    NVivo as a reflexive tool for insider-researchers: early observations from an ongoing study · 2026 · DOI

  • The data management was limited by the use of binary choice male/female tickbox categories for gender. Writers were not asked to provide their race or ethnicity.

    The sibling postcard exercise - substance and methodology · 2026 · DOI

  • It seeks to provide a more nuanced discussion of approaches.

    Bell, E., Bryman, A., Kleinknecht, S. (Eds.). (2023). Social research methods (6th Canadian ed.). Oxford University Press. · 2026 · DOI

  • The concept of practical value is under-specified. The question of what it means for research to be valuable for practice remains surprisingly under-specified. The criteria for evaluating research quality rarely address the ways in which research is expected to resonate with, inform, or support educational practice.

    Beyond applicability: Rethinking how educational research serves practice · 2026 · DOI

  • The gap between the pursuit of knowledge and the pressure to publish, - The danger of prioritizing metrics over truth, - The need for honest narrative…

    The Researcher’s “Odyssey”: Staying the course without losing our way · 2026 · DOI

  • I propose three sets of implications for a fluid view of a person for qualitative research: methodological implications in viewing interviews as a slice of life, or as part of longitudinal stories; implications for a researcher in how they relate to their limited knowledge claims with epistemic humility; and practice innovations to invite participants to acknowledge their own unfinalizability and potential to change…

    Continuing to Become Other: Responding to the Complexities of the Shifting Subject in Qualitative Research Through a Narrative Therapy Lens · 2024 · DOI

  • Development of standardized reporting guidelines for LLM use in qualitative research. Investigation of the impact of LLMs on the quality and validity of qualitative research findings. Exploration of the potential applications of LLMs in qualitative research.

    The use and methodological reporting of large language models in qualitative research: a scoping review · 2026 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics

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Open questions raised by papers listed on this page include: (1) The gap between the importance of research in academic medicine and the lack of institutional support for researchers (“The researcher is “not” an afterthought”, 2026); (2) Field-based sociological and anthropological studies in Gaza remain scarce because the city’s prolonged siege and recurrent Israeli military assaults severely restrict access, making in-depth, on-the-ground research nearly impossible (““Situated fieldwork at a distance”: the negotiation of ethics and knowledge…”, 2026); (3) Future research could explore the application of CUAR in different fields and contexts (“Analysis in action research”, 2026); (4) Further studies should investigate demand characteristics bias in different research contexts (““I Thought I Should Give You Good Answers”: Evidence of Demand Characteristics…”, 2026); (5) Future research could further explore Patti Lather's work and its impact on qualitative research (“Engaging Boldly to (Re)Think Methodology”, 2026). 240 gap statements have been mined from Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 4,348 papers on the topic; the gaps come from whichever of those papers state one. They are mostly the research gaps the authors state and the papers' abstracts, plus future-work, limitations and challenges passages. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one, so you can read the original claim in context.

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