The Four Cornerstones of Qualitative Research (English Edition)

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is more than the application of best research evidence to practice. Advocates for evidence-based medicine (EBM), the parent discipline of EBP, state that EBP has three and possibly four components: best research evidence, clinical expertise, and patient preferences and wants. Person-centered physicians also advocate for the person of the practitioner as a fourth component. In this article, I show the centrality of qualitative research to this fuller version of EBP. I also show how qualitative research has four cornerstones that parallel the four components of EBP.