Document Type : Letter to Editor
Author
Student Research Committee, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran
Abstract
The concept of rigor occupies a central position in qualitative health research; however, its contemporary interpretation has become increasingly conflated with adherence to standardized checklists and reporting frameworks. While such instruments were introduced to promote transparency and methodological clarity, their routine and prescriptive application risks reducing rigor to a form of technical compliance rather than a meaningful marker of analytic quality. This letter argues that an overreliance on checklists may inadvertently marginalize epistemological diversity and obscure the interpretive, reflexive, and context-dependent nature of qualitative inquiry. We suggest that rigor in qualitative health research is better understood as contextual trustworthiness an achievement grounded in the coherence between research aims, methodological positioning, analytic decisions, and knowledge claims. From this perspective, credibility is not ensured through checklist fulfillment alone, but through transparent reasoning, reflexive engagement, and theoretical alignment within specific disciplinary and cultural contexts. Reconsidering rigor in this way has important implications for editorial and peer-review practices, calling for evaluative approaches that balance accountability with respect for epistemic pluralism. Such a shift may better support the intellectual integrity and methodological richness of qualitative health research.
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