Navigating and Evaluating High-Quality Qualitative Chemistry Education Research

Abstract Chemistry education research (CER) has grown into a vibrant and essential subdiscipline of chemistry, offering insights into how students learn, how instructors teach, and how institutional structures shape outcomes in the chemical sciences. Virtually any educational phenomenon, including student attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs, can be investigated using either quantitative or qualitative approaches. However, the nature of the insights gained (and the specific nuances captured or omitted) differs fundamentally between the two. While early CER relied heavily on quantitative methods, the field has shifted to increasingly incorporate qualitative methods. Qualitative inquiry can capture the depth, contextual complexity, and underlying mechanisms of educational phenomena when it is focused on understanding the meaning-making of participants. In this Perspective, we argue that high-quality qualitative CER is demonstrated through transparency of design, alignment of research questions with theoretical frameworks and methodologies, thoughtful data collection and analysis, and attention to ethics and participant care. We articulate guidelines for identifying and evaluating qualitative research that will advance the credibility, recognition, and impact of this field. Nevertheless, we acknowledge that qualitative traditions are ever-evolving; therefore, rather than following criteria as a disembodied checklist when evaluating qualitative work, we advocate for focusing on how transparently a study connects its research goals, data collection, and conclusions. We anticipate that this Perspective can support manuscript reviewers, grant panels, and promotion and tenure evaluators as well as graduate students and early-career scholars who are developing qualitative projects.