Reliability And Validity In Qualitative Research

Qualitative research is a sociological and anthropological tradition of inquiry. Most critically, qualitative research involves sustained interaction with the people being studied in their own language, and on their own turf. To see qualitative research as strictly disengaged from any form of counting is to miss the point that its basic strategy depends on the reconciliation of diverse research tactics. It is our view that qualitative research can be performed as social science. Understanding the workings of a scientific endeavor, whether it is of the natural or social variety, entails an appreciation of its objectivity. By this convention, the objectivity of a piece of qualitative research is evaluated in terms of the reliability and validity of its observations - the two concepts to which this monograph is devoted.

This text offers comprehensive coverage of the design and use of qualitative methods in leadership research. The book equips leadership researchers at all levels with the knowledge to make informed choices of research strategies. The second edition features 50% new research and includes new developments in qualitative research methods.

While often greeted with trepidation, the importance of a research project—how it is conducted and its significance to practice—is an essential aspect of nursing and other healthcare arenas. This innovative resource is a user-friendly introduction to evidence-based practice and other types of research-based initiatives that improve patient outcomes. Using a method formed through years of teaching experience, Brenda Marshall translates the difficult and sometimes confusing language of research into everyday vocabulary, linking complicated concepts with easily understood scenarios. Written in quick-access Fast Facts style, this book presents knowledge in a consistent, step-by-step format characterized by bite-sized information. Each chapter opens with learning objectives that unfold into new concepts, followed by everyday life examples. Fast Facts boxes, systematized tables, and new vocabulary reinforce learning and highlight key concepts. This application-based approach helps students question their preconceived notions about research and then engage in it with newfound confidence. Key Features: Translates complex research concepts into straightforward language Demonstrates clear, step-by-step methods that facilitate successful attainment of research goals Helps students to construct an argument, build a theory, and critically explore a belief Promotes self-sufficiency in lifelong learning and achievement Written by an instructor whose classes have propelled many successful research careers

Winner of the 2018 Textbook & Academic Authors Association′s The McGuffey Longevity Award In the revised Fourth Edition of the best-selling text, John W. Creswell and new co-author Cheryl N. Poth explore the philosophical underpinnings, history, and key elements of five qualitative inquiry approaches: narrative research, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, and case study. Preserving Creswell′s signature writing style, the authors compare the approaches and relate research designs to each of the traditions of inquiry in a highly accessible manner. Featuring new content, articles, pedagogy, references, and expanded coverage of ethics throughout, the Fourth Edition is an ideal introduction to the theories, strategies, and practices of qualitative inquiry.

Essay from the year 2010 in the subject Politics - Methods, Research, grade: 1,3 (77%), University of Warwick (Politics and International Studies), course: Qualitative Research Methods, language: English, abstract: Validity and reliability as quality indicators have an uneasy standing in qualitative research and are subject to numerous debates. Researchers from different paradigmatic backgrounds expressed a variety of views, the extremes ranging from a complete denial of the possibility of valid and reliable qualitative research on one hand to the rejection of validity and reliability as meaningful quality indicators on the other. The following essay acknowledges the diverging assumptions underlying the different paradigms associated with quantitative and qualitative research. However, it denies that validity and reliability are inherently connected to predetermined ontological or epistemological assumptions and argues for their general use as quality indicators. To clarify this claim, a selection of different paradigms and the development of alternative quality indicators within them are highlighted. Since the usefulness of this multitude of indicators is questionable, reconciliation is attempted by consolidating them. The concepts of "core validity" and "core reliability", which can be specified according to the researcher's paradigm, are introduced for this task. These concepts underline the relevance and applicability of validity and reliability as quality indicators in qualitative research. Furthermore, qualitative research has developed strategies and methods, which enable the researcher to address negative influences on validity and reliability and achieve high degrees of both.

The field of psychology has been characterized by an interesting schism in the area of research methods. The promotion of the scientific method and the emphasis on experimental methodology helped give psychology an identity as a hard science and legitimacy as a discipline. Yet from the beginning, observations of behavior formed the very basis of the field of psychology. Psychologists such as Freud and Piaget used observational qualitative methods to form their theories –which continue to be major cornerstones of contemporary psychology. Editors Mary Kopala and Lisa A. Suzuki have collected a series of essays that help to consider the philosophical foundations for conducting qualitative research in psychological settings, as well as illustrating the application of those methods. Broad-based and inclusive, Using Qualitative Methods in Psychology examines such topics as multicultural issues, supervision, program evaluation, teaching qualitative research, ethics, and therapeutic settings. Using Qualitative Methods in Psychology will be a crucial addition to the libraries of teachers and researchers interested in psychological research methods writ large, and especially to those interested in qualitative research methods.

"Showing how science is limited by its dominant mode of investigation, Lincoln and Guba propose an alternative paradigm--a "naturalistic" rather than "rationalistic" method of inquiry--in which the investigator avoids manipulating research outcomes. A "paradigm shift" is under way in many fields, they contend, and go on to describe the different assumptions of the two approaches regarding the nature of reality, subject-object interaction, the possibility of generalization, the concept of causality, and the role of values. The authors also offer guidance for research in the field (where, they say, naturalistic inquiry always takes place). Useful tips are given, for example, on "designing" a study as it unfolds, establishing "trustworthiness," and writing a case report. This book helps researchers "both to understand and to do naturalistic inquiry." Of particular interest to educational researchers, it is valuable for all social scientists involved with questions of qualitative and quantitative methodology."--Publisher's description.

How can ethnographic studies be generalized, in contrast to concentrating on the individual case? Noblit and Hare propose a new method for synthesizing from qualitative studies: meta-ethnography. After citing the criteria to be used in comparing qualitative research projects, the authors define the ways these can then be aggregated to create more cogent syntheses of research. Using examples from numerous studies ranging from ethnographic work in educational settings to the Mead-Freeman controversy over Samoan youth, Meta-Ethnography offers useful procedural advice from both comparative and cumulative analyses of qualitative data. This provocative volume will be read with interest by researchers and students in qualitative research methods, ethnography, education, sociology, and anthropology. "After defining metaphor and synthesis, these authors provide a step-by-step program that will allow the researcher to show similarity (reciprocal translation), difference (refutation), or similarity at a higher level (lines or argument synthesis) among sample studies....Contain(s) valuable strategies at a seldom-used level of analysis." --Contemporary Sociology "The authors made an important contribution by reframing how we think of ethnography comparison in a way that is compatible with the new developments in interpretive ethnography. Meta-Ethnography is well worth consulting for the problem definition it offers." --The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease "This book had to be written and I am pleased it was. Someone needed to break the ice and offer a strategy for summarizing multiple ethnographic studies. Noblit and Hare have done a commendable job of giving the research community one approach for doing so. Further, no one else can now venture into this area of synthesizing qualitative studies without making references to and positioning themselves vis-a-vis this volume." -Educational Studies