Table 2 Practical steps in preparing qualitative research manuscripts

Plausibility

• Problematise the topic by engaging with the existing literature and asking critical questions about what is not known about the phenomenon, process, or concept being studied

• Articulate the significance by ensuring a research question is clearly stated and is aligned to a theoretical or empirical gap in the literature

• Communicate clearly how a study has been informed by multiple perspectives (e.g. participants, methods, data sets, researchers, and/or theories)

• Ensure integrity by checking resonance with participants, and reporting any subsequent changes in data interpretation

• Ensure there is a coherence and logic to all parts of the narrative being presented

• Outline the contributions of the research to the empirical or theoretical literature or for practice

Relevance

• Describe the study setting and outline how it provides an appropriate context for investigating the phenomenon, process, or concept being studied

• Describe the sources of data and the specific characteristics of these sources relevant to the phenomenon, process, or concept being studied

• Identify implications/recommendations of the research and how the research might inform other settings or populations or future work

• Communicate the research using language that is meaningful for the intended audience

Consistency

• Ensure the research question/s follows logically from the literature

• Outline how the choice of methods has enabled access to the phenomenon, process, or concept being studied

• Describe the theoretical lens through which the findings will be interpreted

• Report how the process of engaging with the literature or gathering or analysing data may have helped to fine tune the research question and the process of inquiry

• Label core findings (i.e. themes) in a way that align back to the research question and are meaningful

• Ensure participant quotes are used judiciously to evidence and support the findings

• Review congruence by checking alignment between all sections of a manuscript and particularly between the findings and the discussion and implication points, to avoid overstatement of findings

• Review coherence of the storyline by removing unnecessary literature and side topics

• Utilise the correct qualitative research lexicon

Transparency

• Provide a transparent and comprehensive description of the research process that reflects key decisions or adaptations made in the process

• Outline if any unexpected issues were encountered in the research process and how the researcher/s managed this

• Ensure the implications/recommendations are well-grounded in the data

• Provide a detailed description of the data collection and analysis processes including how these were informed by multiple researchers and theory (if applicable)

• Practice reflexivity by including a statement about researcher/s background, position within the research, and relationship to the research phenomenon, context or participants

• Provide a balanced view by outlining the strengths and sources of uncertainty in a study so that a reader/reviewer can make an informed judgement

Currency

• Provide a compelling reason for why the research matters, and identify 2–3 take home messages that succinctly convey the value-add of a study

• Communicate about the other contexts in which the research likely matters