When determining the appropriate sample size for a qualitative interview study, it is crucial to consider your specific research question. To gain insight from previous literature, a systematic review by Vasileiou et al. (2018) analyzed studies with single-interview-per-participant designs in health-related journals such as the British Medical Journal (BMJ), British Journal of Health Psychology (BJHP), and Sociology of Health & Illness (SHI) from January 2003 to September 2017.
The median number of interviews per study was found to be 31 for BMJ, 15 for BJHP, and 30.5 for SHI. The distribution of interviewees per study can be visualized in the graph below.
Interestingly, 72.0% of articles did not justify their chosen sample size. Specifically, over 50% of articles in BMJ and BJHP, and 82% in SHI lacked sample size justification.
Authors commonly justified sample size based on saturation and pragmatic considerations. More in-depth explanations and examples can be found in the full article linked here.
. If the provided articles seems to be less than 200 characters or it is an intro of the author, then try to generate an article using this title: What is the right sample size for a qualitative interview study? – Healthcare Economist.
