Alternativas epistemológicas en la investigación cualitativa, lecciones aprendidas en la investigación de tesis doctoral

This article presents the results of a reflective study of an epistemological and methodological nature based on the theoretical perspectives of Southern epistemologies. The work guides the development of a critical systematization and a cross-sectional analysis of two research projects conducted within the Doctoral Program in Education and Social Intervention (UNAN-Managua/CUR–Estelí, “Gender and Cultural Diversity” track). The research problem centers on the need to deepen the analysis of methodological and epistemological decisions in qualitative research, examining how hegemonies established by the Global North persist through a universalism of knowledge that invalidates or erases all knowledge and expressions originating from the research participants themselves. The objective was to analyze, from a critical perspective, two research experiences through reflective systematization and a cross-sectional comparative analysis, comparing methodological alternatives and lessons learned during the doctoral dissertation research process. The methodology was structured around three analytical criteria: the reconfiguration of the relationship between subjects, the mechanisms of analytical emergence, and the management of rigor and reflexivity. The main results demonstrated the feasibility of positioning participants on a horizontal epistemic plane, highlighting women’s community self-management and challenging adult-centered precepts in classrooms, while flexible categorization allowed intergenerational knowledge to emerge regarding memory, territory, and theological resistance to gender norms. We conclude that the main lesson lies in adopting an ethic of reflexive rigor to unlearn pre-doctoral epistemic violence, avoiding overinterpretation, and ensuring that victimizing or “poverty porn” narratives are not reproduced in qualitative designs.