Table 2.
Most frequently used method references (8 most used) and QLR method references (5 most used). Citations in Google Scholar were used as an indication of how widely used the references are; searches conducted in Google Scholar 2022-01-02
| N (%) | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Methodological reference | ||
| Braun & Clark [29] | 43 (14.4) | Early, widespread description of thematic analysis. 117,046 citations in Google Scholar. |
| Patton [30] | 29 (9.7) | Early, comprehensive book about conducting research using qualitative methods. References included 2nd, 3rd and 4th editions, published between 1990 and 2015. 111,407 citations in Google Scholar. |
| Miles, Huberman & Saldaña [31] | 22 (7.4) | Comprehensive book about analysis and coding. This edition was coauthored with Saldana who has previously written about QLR. 420 citations in Google Scholar. The book is a developed version and the first edition was published in 1994 [32] (144,063 citations in Google Scholar). This latter edition was used by 14 articles in the sample. |
| Smith, Flowers & Larkin [33] | 20 (6.7) | Comprehensive book on Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. 605 citations in Google Scholar. |
| Hsieh & Shannon [34] | 19 (6.4) | Widespread early overview of content analysis. 36,554 citations in Google Scholar. |
| Glaser & Strauss [35] | 17 (5.7) | First book describing grounded theory. 150,386 citations in Google Scholar. |
| Tong., et al., [36] | 16 (5.4) | First guidelines on the reporting of qualitative articles within health research. 14,302 citations in Google Scholar. |
| QLR method references | ||
| Calman, Brunton & Molassiotis [1] | 15 (5.0) | One of the first articles describing the QLR method from a health research perspective. 211 citations in Google Scholar. |
| Saldaña [13] | 15 (5.0) | Methodological book with influence on the further development of QLR, mainly drawing on ethnographical traditions and examples from theatre education. 880 citations in Google Scholar. |
| Murray [37] | 11 (3.7) | Article giving practical advice on the use of serial interviewing. 301 citations in Google Scholar. |
| Grossoehme & Lipstein [3] | 7 (2.3) | Article about QLR analysis, giving examples and advice regarding two different analysis approaches. 147 citations in Google Scholar. |
| Thomson & Holland [38] | 5 (1.7) | One article of several that originated from an early report on how QLR was used in UK. This article outlines several challenges and solutions when working with QLR. 424 citations in Google Scholar. |