‘Unsatisfactory Saturation’: a critical exploration of the notion of saturated sample sizes in qualitative research

Measuring quality in qualitative research is a contentious issue with diverse opinions and various frameworks available within the evidence base. One important and somewhat neglected argument within this field relates to the increasingly ubiquitous discourse of data saturation. While originally developed within grounded theory, theoretical saturation, and later termed data/thematic saturation for other qualitative methods, the meaning has evolved and become transformed. Problematically this temporal drift has been treated as unproblematic and saturation as a marker for sampling adequacy is becoming increasingly accepted and expected. In this article we challenge the unquestioned acceptance of the concept of…