RELIABILTIY AND VALIDITY IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH: STRATEGIES TO ENSURE THE RIGOR OF YOUR RESEARCH

Researchers have advocated for the concept of “trustworthiness” in qualitative research, as similar to quantitative research’s reliability and validity. This has led to various strategies applied after the research has been completed. Morse and her colleagues (2002) have asserted that “the broad and abstract concepts of reliability and validity can be applied to all research, because the goal of finding plausible and credible outcome explanations is central to all research” (p. 3). Verification strategies (investigator responsiveness, theoretical sampling and sampling adequacy, active analytic stance, saturation, and methodological coherence [p. 9]) should be in place and adhered to during the research process. This presentation describes these strategies in the context of recent research.

My study was student-focused turned to geology instructor-focused in response to puzzling instructor pedagogical decisions. I further refined the study, using embodied cognition as a framework after noticing the instructor’s (Eric’s) frequent use of metaphor. I was interested in his incidental use of metaphor. I never brought it to his attention, as doing so would have made Eric self-conscious of his metaphor use and placed the reliability of these data in jeopardy. As the data analysis progressed, I identified multiple complex metaphors.

Data analysis started early, when I discerned Eric’s implementation diverged from that intended. Early responsiveness allowed for iterations in interpretation, “the essence of attaining reliability and validity” (p. 12). Towards the end of data collection, I discerned four complex metaphors encompassing the majority of the data, and consistently explain Eric’s actions. The final transcripts showed no new categories. This data saturation “ensures replication in categories; replication verifies and ensures comprehension and completeness” (p. 12).

The case study approach allowed for in-depth, exploratory investigation of the system separate from other systems (Creswell, 2008). Due to the nature of the case study having a single participant, my ability to generalize is limited, but while it may not inform us on how all instructors would think in a similar circumstance, it can give us insight into areas that will be useful and important to investigate with other instructors.