reliability validity and trustworthiness in qualitative research

It also predicts how valid the scale can be in the future, this is a very fast way to measure or establish the validity of a test. It can also refer to testing the same test on two groups concurrently to establish the validity of the test. Concurrent and predictive validityĬoncurrent validity measures the extent to which the results of a scale are concurrent with the results of a similar study in the past. No objective conclusion can be drawn thus as any change in questions will yield a different result. If different questions will be developed the link between the objectives and the instrument will not remain same. The problem with face validity is that the logic on the basis of which the researcher develops questions is subjective and hence it varies from person to person. It should also be noted that the questions on the scale should cover all the objectives of the study. The questions on the scale should have a logical reason why they have been developed, i-e they should provide answers to the objectives. There are three types of validity in research: Face validityįace validity measures the validity of the instrument by creating a logical relationship between the questions on the scale and the objectives of the study.

Definition of validity in researchĪccording to Kerlinger the best definition of validity is in the question that “are we measuring what we think we are measuring” and according to Babbie (1990) “validity refers to the extent to which an empirical measure adequately reflects the real meaning of the concept under consideration”. In qualitative studies, if statistical analysis cannot answer the second question than logic is used to maintain that the research tools are valid and reliable. The answer to the second question can be obtained by applying statistical procedures to the data measured. The answer to the first question is the researcher himself and in case he is a novice in this field he will get help from the research supervisor or an expert in the field. To bring validity to the qualitative research he should ask two questions from himself: first, who will decide that the instrument used to, and second, how to establish that the instrument is measuring what it is designed for? For a novice researcher, it is hard to seek rigor and control in the qualitative research. The aim of any research regardless of whether it is a quantitative research or a qualitative research should be to maintain rigor and control in the research in order to seek the truth. Though it is difficult to maintain validity in qualitative research but there are some alternate ways in which the quality of the qualitative research can be enhanced. The concept of reliability, generalizability, and validity in qualitative research is often criticized by the proponents of quantitative research.

Reliability validity and trustworthiness in qualitative research