(Creswell and Poth, 2018)
Transferability
Thick description
Dependable
Triangulation
Description of process
Confirmability
Audit trail
Journal
Credibility
Reflexivity and quotes
Peer checking
(Morrow, 2005)
Morrow, S. L. (2005). Quality and trustworthiness in qualitative research in counseling psychology. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52(2), 250–260. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.52.2.250
Advocates for grounding research in theory as it guides some uses of trustworthiness
parallel criteria created by Lincoln and Guba which parallel quant reliability and validity methods to qua, mostly fit in post-positivist contexts
Credibility (parallels to internal validity)- internal consistency, ensuring rigor and communicating what was done; done through prolonged engagement with participants, persistent field observation, peer debriefers, negative case analysis, researcher reflexivity, and participant checks
thick descriptions- rich detailed descriptions of experience of phenomena, but also the contexts in which those experiences occur (culture, time, etc.)
Transferability (vs external validity)- extent to which the reader is able to generalize the findings of a study to her or his own context and addresses the core issue of “how far a researcher may make claims for a general application of their [sic] theory
Dependability (vs reliability)- “the way in which a study is conducted should be consistent across time, researchers, and analysis techniques
- use audit trail- detailed chronology of research activities and processes
Confirmability (vs objectivity)- acknowledges researcher is never objective, based on the perspective that the integrity of findings lies in the data and that the researcher must adequately tie together the data, analytic processes, and findings in such a way that the reader is able to confirm the adequacy of the findings
Member checking should not be treated as validation strategy, but rather elaboration of findings, treated as additional data (Sparkes 1998)
Trustworthiness in constructivist/interpretivist paradigms aligned with authenticity (Lincoln and Guba 1989) which includes: Fairness demands that different
constructions be solicited and honored. In ontological authenticity, participants’ individual constructions are improved, matured, expanded, and elaborated. Educative authenticity requires that participants’ understandings of and appreciation for the constructionsof others be enhanced. Catalytic authenticity speaks to the extent
to which action is stimulated
Patton 2002 notes: embracing subjectivity
- dependability- systematic process was systematically followed
- triangulation- capturing and respecting multiple perspectives
- researcher reflexivity- understand own experiences and how this impacts research process
- praxis- integration of theory and practice
- verstehen- enhanced and deep understanding
- particularity- doing justice to the integrity of unique cases
- dialogue among various perspectives
author argues for verstehen and mutual construction of meaning - which includes context, culture and rapport
Qual methods are suited to examining individuals within cultural context, but must be prepared and intentional
Trustworthiness in Postmodern/Critical paradigms
- this kind of research focuses on historical situatedness, structures of power, and creating change
- consequential validity- success with which research achieves its goal of social and political change
- sees validity as truly open-ended and context specific, many traditional forms of trustworthiness don’t apply
Subjective- qual researchers own their biases and work to bracket or meaningfully integrate them, use positioning, self-monitoring to make implicit assumptions known to self and others
Reflexivity- self awareness and agency within that awareness
- use reflecting journaling from beginning to end of process, consult with research team or have research community
issue of representation- whose reality is represented in research, shifting from viewing researchers as authorities on participants’ lives, but rather fairly representing how participatns see their experience
- use participant checks to help co-construct meaning
Participatory consciousness- awareness of a depper level of kinship between the knower and the known, emotion is integral to the relationship between knower and known, being with participants replaces observation, empathic relating prized
Adaquacy of data Erickson 1986 proposed : (a) adequate amounts of evidence, (b) adequate variety in kinds of evidence, (c) interpretive status of evidence, (d) adequate disconfirming evidence, and (e) adequate discrepant case analysis.
redundancy- no new information coming from new data
use multiple data sources- participant observation, field notes, interviews, focus groups, participant checks, artifacts, electronic data, etc
