Sparkes and Smith Article

The basis of this article deals with how a qualitative researcher can deem research "good." Sparkes and Smith look at two different types of researcher to come to a conclusion. The first type of researcher is a criteriologist and the second type is a relativist.

A criteriologist, as the name suggests, judges the quality of research based on "permanent and universal" criteria. To this person, a clear cut algorithm must be predetermined in order to properly judge the quality of the research. After evaluating the research, the criteriologist then has a very basic yes or no answer. The research is good, or the research is bad.

The relativist, similar to the criteriologist, does believe that criteria should be used in evaluating research. However, the difference comes in that that relativist "does not believe that these criteria should be determined in advance of any particular piece of inquiry." In this type of evaluation, the relativist cannot determine definitely that the research is 'good' or 'bad.' For the relativist, evaluation of the research is contingent on the time and place of evaluation and the circumstances in which the research is collected.

The authors of this article are much in favor of the relativistic approach to evaluating qualitative research. They claim that criteriological research is crippling, as it does not allow for conversation and inhibits creativity. In a nutshell, criteriology allows for no thinking 'outside the box.' In contrast, relativism allows for creativity, conversation, and the development of potentially better ideas.

I also side with the relativistic approach. I will use the idea of women in sports as an example to illustrate my point. The 'research' and the thoughts of the early 1900s most likely were consistent that women should not participate in sports as men could. With a criteriological approach, the same universal and predetermined ideas of that time would carry over forever. However, taking a relativistic approach and allowing 'time' and 'place' to be factors in the quality of research, discussion, experimentation and action have occurred which obviously diminish the quality of thought in the early 1900s.

Without relativism, we never allow ourselves to evolve. This isn't just true in research. This is true in sports, music, style, theater, business, etc.