The Design of Member Review

Noting various forces prompting qualitative researchers to incorporate some form of member review into their studies, this article aims to help researchers anticipate and develop their own considered strategies for designing and executing this process. Drawing on existing discussions of member review in the sociological and anthropological literature, the article develops a framework that suggests different ways in which member reviews might be designed and executed, it outlines the types of challenges researchers may anticipate during execution of the designs and highlights the positive and negative influences that creating the opportunity for such challenges can have on the research. A dissertation-based case study illustrates how challenges to the research arising from execution of a particular member review design unfolded in practice and forms the basis for considering how researchers might respond when research participants take exception to what we write.