Qualitative research is rich. But richness alone doesn’t guarantee validity. In fact, many qualitative studies fail validation due to subtle, often overlooked flaws. At Research & Report Consulting, we’ve audited hundreds of studies and identified recurring critical issues that most researchers don’t realize. Fixing these can elevate your findings from “interesting” to trustworthy. Key Issues … Read more
Likert scales remain a staple in social science, management, and policy research. Their simplicity—“strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”—makes them appealing for capturing opinions. Yet, their misuse often leads to statistical pitfalls that undermine credibility. This article explains the risks, provides solutions, and highlights best practices with supporting evidence. Why Likert Scales Are Popular Despite their … Read more
Academic publishing has changed rapidly. Research today requires transparency, advanced analytics, and integration with modern data science tools. Yet many researchers still rely on SPSS, a tool designed decades ago for basic statistical work. At Research & Report Consulting (RRC), we often see manuscripts where the research questions are innovative, but the methods are outdated. … Read more
In qualitative research, data saturation is one of the most cited yet misunderstood concepts. Too often, researchers treat saturation as a “magic number” — usually 12 or 15 interviews — without considering research design or analytical depth. At Research & Report, we regularly review manuscripts and supervise doctoral work where saturation is misapplied. This article … Read more
In academic and applied research circles, the terms scoping and exploratory often carry an unintended implication: that the work is preliminary, informal, or exempt from rigor. That’s a dangerous myth. At Research & Report, we frequently observe a pattern: researchers use the label “exploratory” to excuse vague questions, ad-hoc methods, or weak analytical structure — … Read more
In quantitative research, justifying sample size is a fundamental requirement. Yet, one of the most misused tools in this process is G*Power — a free and powerful program that helps estimate sample sizes based on power analysis.While G*Power is valuable, it’s often misapplied or overly relied upon, leading to flawed research designs, underpowered studies, and … Read more
Despite the growing acceptance and institutionalization of qualitative research in academia, many studies still fall into a critical trap — they lack a solid theoretical foundation. While qualitative methods are celebrated for exploring complexity, meaning, and lived experience, they are increasingly being used in ways that are conceptually shallow, methodologically misaligned, and analytically weak. This … Read more
In today’s publish-or-perish academic environment, research gaps are a staple of literature reviews. However, many so-called “gaps” are superficial. Weakly framed gaps lead to weak contributions, making manuscripts less likely to survive peer review or gain traction in global journals. This article explains why most research gaps lack depth and how to construct meaningful, impactful … Read more
