Criteria of Research Quality in Sociology

The article develops a catalog of eleven scientific quality criteria for sociological research papers from an analytical-empirical perspective. The criteria catalog includes quality requirements for theory development and empirical social research. A distinction is made between two basic criteria that address the entire research process, nine core criteria that address individual stages of this process, and a series of sub-criteria that serve to specify the core criteria. The criteria are developed along a stylized research process as it is typical in quantitative social research. Nonetheless, an attempt is made to formulate the criteria in a way that makes them applicable to qualitative social research. The paper aims to provide the scientific community with a frame of reference grounded in an analytical-empirical perspective that guides the development of high-quality research and supports the assessment of research performance in a criterion-guided manner.

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