This paper reports an investigation about 'quality' in qualitative research. For educatorsand students of nursing and midwifery, it serves as an exemplar for tackling vexing research questions, and as a model for creative research reporting. Practising qualitative researchers (post-doctoral nurses and midwives) from different countries were asked to identify the characteristics of what they considered to be a high quality published report of qualitative research. They then commented upon one another's characteristics with a view to comparing and compiling ideas. Four themes were identified from the data, relatingto process, writing, outcome and excellence. The study highlights shifts in thinking about determinants of quality in qualitative research over time, and current challenges for researchers, consumers and others in the face of declining interest in quality criteria.A spider's web is used as a met aphor for the study to illustrate the enmeshment and intrigue that the research and its findings generated for the researchers, participantsand onlookers.