An Appraisal of Methodological Rigour: A Document Analysis of Qualitative Research Designs in MA and MEd Proposals at a South African University

This study examines the application of qualitative research methodologies within postgraduate research at a Historically Disadvantaged Institution (HDI) in South Africa. It assesses the prevalence, perceived relevance, and methodological appropriateness of qualitative designs in proposals for the Master of Arts in English and the Master of Education in English Language Education. A systematic document analysis was conducted on a complete cohort of proposals submitted to the institution's Human Research Ethics Committee during the 2024 and 2025 academic years. The analysis was structured using the established evaluative framework of Cobb and Hagemaster, employing their ten criteria for a rigorous and systematic appraisal.

This approach facilitated a detailed, contextual exploration of how postgraduate researchers conceptualise and operationalise qualitative paradigms within the intersecting fields of humanities and education. Scrutiny focused on the alignment between stated research problems, selected methodological frameworks, such as case study and phenomenology, and the articulated techniques for data generation and analysis. The findings indicate a broad level of misconception of the tenets of qualitative designs, with occurrences of inappropriate applications of methods. Hence, the findings elucidate the specific methodological competencies and recurrent challenges students encounter. This contributes significantly to a critical understanding of research capacity within a uniquely transforming higher education context.

The study's outcomes aim to inform tangible improvements in research supervision and academic pedagogy for qualitative research. The objective is to ensure the rigorously appropriate application of qualitative research for investigating complex linguistic, literary, and educational phenomena. Consequently, this research contributes to global discourses on qualitative methodology, research capacity building in developing nations, and decolonial knowledge production in the Global South.