Publishing qualitative adult education research: A peer review perspective

Abstract

As interest in qualitative research has grown over the past decade in scholarly adult education publications, it has become increasingly varied in its application. However, there are no standards for reporting qualitative data. This poses a confusing dilemma for the emerging adult education scholar interested in submitting qualitative research to scholarly journals. One rarely investigated resource that offers insight into this challenge is peer reviewer assessments of qualitative research. The purpose of this study is to identify characteristics of publishable qualitative research to a major international adult and continuing education journal through an in-depth analysis of peer review comments. A grounded theory approach was used to design a content analysis of reviewer comments. From the findings, six major themes emerged as essential to the publication of qualitative research: What is the purpose of the study? How does the purpose build on previous research? How thorough is the methodology? How are the findings presented? What are the contributions, implications, and significance of the study? Is the manuscript organized, edited and well formatted? This article further guides the reader with explanations of what it means to publish quality qualitative research.