Health and Quality of Life Outcomes BioMed Central Review Open Access An increasing number of qualitative research papers in oncology and palliative care: does it mean a thorough development of the methodology of research? Claudia Borreani*1, Guido Miccinesi2, Cinzia Brunelli1 and Micaela Lina1 Address: 1Psychology Unit, National Cancer Institute, Milan, Via Venezian 1, 20133 Milan, Italy and 2Epidemiology Unit, Centre for Study and Prevention of Cancer, Via di San Salvi 12, 50135 Florence, Italy Email: Claudia Borreani* - ; Guido Miccinesi - ; Cinzia Brunelli - ; Micaela Lina - psicologia@ * Corresponding author Published: 23 January 2004 Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 2004, 2:7 This. | BioMed Central Health and Quality of Life Outcomes Review Open Access An increasing number of qualitative research papers in oncology and palliative care does it mean a thorough development of the methodology of research Claudia Borreani 1 Guido Miccinesi2 Cinzia Brunelli1 and Micaela Lina1 Address Psychology Unit National Cancer Institute Milan Via Venezian 1 20133 Milan Italy and 2Epidemiology Unit Centre for Study and Prevention of Cancer Via di San Salvi 12 50135 Florence Italy Email Claudia Borreani - Guido Miccinesi - Cinzia Brunelli - Micaela Lina - psicologia@ Corresponding author Published 23 January 2004 Received 09 July 2003 Accepted 23 January 2004 Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 2004 2 7 This article is available from http content 2 1 7 2004 Borreani et al licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article verbatim copying and redistribution of this article are permitted in all media for any purpose provided this notice is preserved along with the article s original URL. Abstract Background In the second half of the nineties a scientific debate about the usefulness of qualitative research in medicine began in the main medical journals as well as the amount of qualitative papers published on peer reviewed journals has noticeably increased during these last years. Nevertheless the label of qualitative methodology has been assigned to an heterogeneous collection of studies. Some of them show a complete awareness of the specificity of this kind of research while others are still largely influenced by the quantitative paradigm prevailing in the medical field. The concern with the rigour and credibility of qualitative methods has lead to the development of a number of checklist for assessing qualitative research. The purposes of this review were to describe the quality of the development of qualitative research in the .
