For many years, discussions of the relative merits of generic and theoretical approaches to qualitative research have divided researchers while overshadowing the need to focus on addressing clinical questions. Drawing
on the challenges of designing a study that explored parents’ experiences of living with children with hydrocephalus, the authors of this paper argue that
over-adherence to, and deliberations about, the philosophical origins of qualitative methods is undermining the contributions qualitative research could make to evidence-based health care and suggest qualitative methods
should stand alone
