Hello all, this is a question for the qualitative researchers amongst you. My study involved in-depth interviews and I'm currently working on my revisions before submitting. I need to include a section on reliability and validity in my methodology chapter, but I'm finding it quite hard, because a lot of the literature seems to be transferring measures from quantitative studies onto qualitative research and that's not appropriate for my study. Does anyone have any references for articles on validity and reliability in qualitative research that could be useful? Thanks

Had the same problem right at the end of PHd. found that loads of authors were contradicting themselves so in the end went for a really simple guide by Bryman, not sure the exact book, but its a soc sci basic

Can you say a bit more? Do you mean like - do respondents tell the truth or wanting to tell you what they think you want to hear sort of thing?

I am in the midst of doing my interviews and this is something I haven't come across in my methods lit review & my supers haven't mentioned.

Not your field perhaps but worth a look?

J Adv Nurs. 1995 Nov;22(5):993-7.

Analysing qualitative interview data: addressing issues of validity and reliability.

Appleton JV.

Over the last 20 years qualitative research methods have increased in popularity in the field of nursing research, yet critical issues of validity and reliability are often overlooked in published research reports. Thus, the aim of this paper is to describe the steps which the author followed to address issues of rigour in one qualitative research study. The study was conducted to explore the health visitor's role in identifying and working with vulnerable families in the community in relation to child protection. This paper will focus on how issues of validity and reliability were addressed in terms of qualitative interview data.

Nurse Res. 2005;13(1):29-42.

Part II. rigour in qualitative research: complexities and solutions.

Tuckett AG.

Anthony G Tuckett outlines the strategies and operational techniques he used to attain rigour in a qualitative research study through relying on Guba and Lincoln's trustworthiness criterion. Research strategies such as use of personal journals, audio recording and transcript auditing, and operational techniques including triangulation strategies and peer review, are examined.

J Eval Clin Pract. 1996 May;2(2):123-30.

Qualitative research in health care: I. The scope and validity of methods.

Fitzpatrick R, Boulton M.

It is increasingly argued that qualitative approaches have an important role in health care research. A wide range of methods are used to collect qualitative data, including in-depth interviews, focus groups and observational methods such as participant observation. The reliability and validity of qualitative studies can be addressed by a variety of techniques. Although there is less consensus about appropriate methods of analysing qualitative data, such analyses tend to be grounded in the data, and involve iterative procedures and the development and refinement of typologies, analogies and other forms of concept to make sense of data.

Gosh, you are the most helpful person on this forum, Ann. Bless your little postdoctoral soul.

I am having trouble writing a chapter about a some enzymes I have identified in particular bacteria and how homologous they are to the same enzymes in other organisms...please could you help me with that too?

I know a couple of great papers referring to qualitative research in psychology - is that your field?

Wow, thanks all so much for your responses and the references!! I really appreciate it!! I have been trying to work on this all morning and it was so nice to turn on the computer and see these messages and some references to follow up. Ann you are a star! :)

Pea - my supervisor didn't mention it before either, but now just before I am due to submit has let me know I should include a section on this. It's essentially about demonstrating that your research is credible and rigorous (or based on 'reality' and whether someone else would get the same results, depending on who you read) i.e. you haven't just put a load of quotes together in an anecdotal way.

At first I was stressed because I kept reading methods of validation that I hadn't done, e.g. respondent validation - taking your findings back to your respondents and seeing if they agree. Even if I could get hold of my respondents now it would severely delay submitting my thesis, and most reports say you only get a very small number of responses anyway, essentially you get more data rather than validation. It seems there are criticisms for every suggested method of validation. DJWickid you're right there's so much contradictory info.

Now I think I am beginning to piece together my writing based on why quantitative approaches aren't suitable to be applied, some suggested criteria by qualitative researchers, and what criteria I am using and why.

Zelda, my field is sociology but my topic is often studied in psychology, so any refs would be useful. Thanks all!

Cool. Let me know if you come across a really good reference - thanks.
Thanks for your research Ann BTW- I'll follow up with those too.

I found this on google yesterday. I's written by a doctoral student, doesn't really come up with solutions as such (not for me anyway) but it has some good references to other material on this topic:

Understanding Reliability and Validity in Qualitative Research

http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR8-4/golafshani.pdf#search=%22reliability%20validity%20qualitative%20research%22

Hiya
If you stick up your email, i can forward you the pdfs.
Zeld.

You can send them via us if you'd like - info@findaphd.com

that would be geat, many thanks Zelda and Postgrad forum team!! I really appreciate your help.