Hi everyone,
When we insert quotes, do we include the gender and age of the person?
Is there a specific rule somewhere about this?

Is it really necessary (to insert gender, age, type of person who made the comment)? sorry for the stupid question, but if I have quotes from say a bunch of dentists, and they are all dentists, can I leave out the gender and age then?

example:
"I'd like to think my patients have understood what I've explained to them."


thanks
love satchi

There are no specific rules as far as I know. I would say it depends on what is relevant, i.e. if you're comparing difference between male/female dentists or newly qualified/more experienced dentists then you would want to indicate that in the quote. So if age or gender are relevant then you would include it.

I only included name (pseudonym) and the number of the interview from which the quote came (longitudinal), but I only had a small number of participants and it was easy to distinguish between them.

I would only include other details if they are specifically relevant or add something.

I think it all depends on the type of analysis and what you're trying to get across, rather than there being a rule. At the moment, I'm doing an analysis that puts my participants' own experiences and understandings right at the heart of things, and so I will include this type of information because I think it will help anyone reading it to 'connect' the quotes to the person.