Evaluating Qualitative Study Leili Salehi Health education & Promotion Department Public health School Alborz University of Medical Sciences

Paradigm Assumption  Post positivist (Systematic ) Paradigm  Constructivist Paradigm  Critical Paradigm

Trustworthiness(Rigor)  Credibility  Dependability  Confirm ability  Transferability

Credibility  Steps in qualitative research to ensure accuracy, validity and soundness of data  Credibility is demonstrated when participants recognize the reported research findings as their own experiences

 Prolong engagement in field  Triangulation  Data Source triangulation  Investigator triangulation  Theory triangulation  External Cheeks  Member cheek  Peer debriefing  Disconfirming Evidence  Research Credibility Credibility

Prolong engagement in field  Need to develop a trusting relationship with research participants  Need to observe and interact in various contexts over time  Need to get a deep and complex understanding of the phenomenon under study

Triangulation  Multiple methods of data collection (interviews – individual and group, observation, literature, archives)  Multiple investigators  Multiple contexts/situations

External Cheeks  Member cheek  Peer debriefing

Member Checks  Going back to the informants to see if the analysis/interpretation makes sense to them, reflects their experiences  May go back to the actual participants or to other informants who you have not previously interviewed, or both

Peer Debriefing  Share data with colleagues (those who are experts in the field of study and those who are not)  May ask peers to code a few transcripts  May ask peers to listen to the analysis you are in the process of developing – ask for feedback

Disconfirming Evidence  Negative Case Analysis  There are not “outliers” in qualitative research  Embrace all the variability's  Learn from the “negative” cases – what explains why this case, this person is different from the others? – leads to a more complex, dense, thick analysis

 Stepwise Replication  Inquiry Audit  An outside person who can verify the steps you went through in arriving at your data analysis/interpretation  Verify the logic of your chronology of the research process – able to outline the steps  Verify that a systematic process was undertaken Dependability

Confirmability  Bracketing  Audit Trial

Transferability  The probability that research findings have meaning to others in similar situations  Also called Fittingness

Transferability Thick Description  Rich, in-depth description of participants & setting so transferability of findings to other settings can be judged

Transferability  Are the findings applicable outside the study situation?  Are the results meaningful for the individuals not involved in the study?  Is the strategy used for the analysis compatible with the purpose of the study ?

Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man's growth without destroying his roots. ◦ Frank A. Clark