Information Power

A sample-adequacy principle for qualitative research, proposed by Malterud, Siersma, and Guassora (2016), which holds that the more information a study sample holds that is relevant to the research question, the fewer participants are needed. Adequacy is judged against five dimensions: study aim (narrow vs broad), sample specificity, use of established theory, quality of dialogue, and analysis strategy. Information power is an alternative to thematic saturation as a stopping rule and is commonly used in accessibility research where recruiting participants with specific lived experience (e.g., a particular disability) is difficult and each participant contributes rich, relevant data.