Qualitative research in higher education: current approaches, challenges, and perspectives
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51247/st.v8iS3.56Keywords:
qualitative research, methodology, approaches, data analysisAbstract
This article aimed to review the main approaches, methods, and current debates in qualitative research in the fields of education and social sciences, highlighting its theoretical evolution, epistemological relevance, and methodological implications. A narrative review of studies published between 2015 and 2025 was conducted, considering articles in Spanish and English indexed in databases such as Scielo, Redalyc, Scopus, and Google Scholar. Theoretical and empirical research that addressed epistemological aspects, designs, data collection and analysis techniques, rigor criteria, and emerging perspectives in qualitative research was included, while purely quantitative, duplicate, or non-peer-reviewed studies were excluded. The findings indicated that qualitative research maintains its relevance due to its ability to understand complex phenomena from the perspective of participants, favoring contextualized interpretation and meaning-making. Current trends such as narrative, visual, digital, and hybrid research were identified, as well as the use of qualitative analysis software and artificial intelligence tools to systematically process data. Furthermore, the importance of rigor criteria such as credibility, transferability, reliability, and confirmability was highlighted, as well as the need to strengthen ethics and epistemological reflection in contemporary studies. In conclusion, qualitative research continued to play a crucial role in the in-depth understanding of social and educational phenomena, combining methodological tradition and adaptation to technological innovations.
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