Guide to Presenting Qualitative Research Data - Section 3: Sharing Qualitative Findings
In the realm of qualitative research, maintaining credibility, reliability, and transferability is paramount. These key elements are achieved through a systematic application of rigorous strategies that align with four widely accepted criteria for trustworthiness: credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability.
**Credibility (Internal Validity)**
To ensure the findings accurately represent participants' perspectives, researchers employ multiple strategies such as triangulation, member checking, prolonged engagement, peer debriefing, and negative case analysis. Triangulation involves using multiple data sources, researchers, or methods to cross-verify and validate results. Member checking entails participants verifying the data or interpretations, while prolonged engagement in the field facilitates a deeper understanding.
**Transferability (Applicability)**
Rather than aiming for statistical generalizability, qualitative researchers provide a "thick description" of the research context, participants, and findings. This rich detail allows readers to judge whether the results apply to similar contexts or populations. Multiple data collection methods are used to capture comprehensive contextual information.
**Dependability (Reliability)**
Maintaining well-documented, consistent data collection and analytical procedures is crucial for dependability. An audit trail, detailing all research steps and decisions, is employed. Inquiry audits by external reviewers, such as committee members, verify the research process. Consistency checks, like intercoder reliability in thematic analysis, ensure coding agreement among researchers.
**Confirmability (Objectivity)**
Minimizing researcher bias is essential for confirmability. Bracketing, reflecting on and setting aside personal preconceptions, and reflexivity, openly acknowledging how researchers' background influences data interpretation, help maintain objectivity. Transparent coding schemes that can be revisited and verified by others are also important.
Additional techniques to enhance trustworthiness include using qualitative research software, member checking, peer debriefing, and triangulation to maintain data quality and enhance reliability. Reflexivity and bracketing interviews allow acknowledgment and control of potential personal biases.
By systematically applying these criteria and methods, qualitative researchers can produce findings that are trustworthy, rigorous, and meaningful while respecting the interpretative nature of qualitative inquiry. Transparency is a fundamental ethical commitment to the research community, participants, and society at large.
Software can be used to enhance data quality and reliability in qualitative research, serving as an additional technique to maintain trustworthiness. In the process of education and self-development, researchers can engage in reflexivity and bracketing interviews to acknowledge and control potential personal biases, further promoting transparency and credibility in their work.
