Practice question · Multiple choice
A qualitative researcher stops interviewing at 22 participants, saying she reached saturation. Why is that a defensible stopping rule rather than a convenient one?
Hints
- Ask what the 21st and 22nd interviews contained that the first ten did not.
- Quantitative work stops when precision suffices. What is the analogous quantity here?
Show the answer
B. Because the criterion is informational: new interviews added no themes
Why
The number is an outcome rather than a target: you stop when fresh interviews stop producing fresh themes. The honest version reports how saturation was judged, because 'we reached saturation' is otherwise unfalsifiable, the same objection this unit levels at any claim that cannot fail.
Practise Quantitative vs. Qualitative Research
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