Need some advice please. When writing up on qualitative work, can we put participant quotes in the discussion? I've looked at the data which shows information not asked for in the Results section, but could go into discussion.

thanks

This is something I haven't done before, but I can't think of any reason not to do it, if the quotes add something to the discussion - it shows that your discussion is grounded in the things your participants said.

Discussion should discuss your results in the context of other research.

You shouldn't introduce new data- if it wasn't important to go in results, why is it in discussion?

hi everyone thanks for your replies. It's something like this:

say I have identified six themes from the data, but x number of subjects have offered "explanations" for three of the themes which couldn't fit into the results

at the moment I am writing up the discussion but haven't found any place to put in the quotes (yet -- or maybe not)

thanks
satchi

Is that maybe something that could go into 'suggestions for further research', satchi? i.e. maybe data that weren't included this time because they didn't help answer the research question, but might be important for a future study?

chickpea that is a great idea
thanks

thanks Hugh!

Yes, you definitely can. I have just published my paper (qualitative study) and I have added some participants' quotes on discussion section.

hi Kassiopi thanks for your message, and congratulations on publishing your paper!