Abstract

REGO, Arménio; CUNHA, Miguel Pina  and  MEYER JR, Victor. How many participants are necessary for a qualitative study? Practical guidelines. RGPLP [online]. 2018, vol.17, n.2, pp.43-57. ISSN 1645-4464.

One of the difficulties associated with qualitative research refers to sample size. Researchers often fail to present a justification for their N and are criticized for that. This article presents guidelines for determining and justifying sample size in qualitative research. It defends that (a) the increase of size is not, per se, an advantage and that (b) the answer depends on the orienting research question and on a number of interrogations it poses.

Keywords : Sample Size; Qualitative Research; Interviews; Conceptual Saturation.

        · abstract in Portuguese | Spanish     · text in Portuguese     · Portuguese ( pdf )