The contexts, modes and forms of the production of scientific knowledge are getting more and more pluralistic and heteronomous ("heteronomization of scientific knowledge"). It's on this base we are discussing here the qualities of qualitative social research. The variety and multitude of social terms of the production of scientific knowledge are taken into account. Therefore, quality means more than validity. Quality is a broader concept that refers to a variety of configurations of conditions and criteria of the research project as well as the research process. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs010223