Development and validation of standards for evaluating the quality of qualitative research on Olympics breakdance

Abstract Since the announcement in 2018 of breakdancing’s inclusion in the 2024 Olympic program in Paris, France, by the International Olympic Committee, there has been a significant increase in qualitative research related to breakdancing. Although standards exist for evaluating qualitative research quality, these standards are not always suitable for breakdancing research. This raises questions about how to evaluate the quality of qualitative research in breakdancing scholarship and how to develop and validate evaluation standards. By following the steps of the evaluation logic, we developed 22 observable behavioral standards and a hypothesized construct map. All observable behavioral standards are divided into three dimensions: (1) writing purpose statement level features; (2) following specific style reference level features; and (3) providing evidence to support the research trustworthiness level features. We then included 30 peer-reviewed qualitative studies in the field of breakdance to conduct the Guttman analysis. In our Guttman chart, we removed 7 standards because they were ambiguous, challenging, or failed to distinguish between levels of research quality in the field. Researchers can use the remaining 15 standards to evaluate the quality of qualitative research in the field of breakdancing. Analysis also reveals the features of both high-quality and low-quality qualitative research within this field. Specifically, high-quality qualitative research is not always a linear process, and breakdance researchers usually develop iterative data collection methods based on emerging phenomena, such as by revisiting participants to gain a deeper understanding of these phenomena. This study is the first of its kind to develop and validate standards for the quality of qualitative research in the field of breakdancing.