30 Essential Skills for the Qualitative Researcher

Member checking is when the researcher takes back to participants their themes or entire stories and asks the participants whether the themes or stories are an accurate representation of what they said.

bearing. Your information can be from different sources (Denzin, 1978), such as from interview transcriptions and typed field notes. The sources can be from different individuals providing interview information. They can also be from different investigators and from different theories. In qualitative research, triangulation naturally occurs during

Also provided for the reader is a detailed, rich description of the setting, the people, and the themes in a qualitative report. This discussion has the effect of transporting readers into an actual setting, where they can smell, feel, and hear people. This transporting provides an accurately felt rendering of a study.

Another way to learn if the account is accurate with participants is to use extended or prolonged engagement in the field.

In much qualitative research, the investigators check in with participants and involve them in key decisions in the research process. Thus, another strategy to help establish the accuracy of a study is to collaborate with participants.

A final form of validity comes from when a reviewer or reader feels that the qualitative account is accurate. A qualitative inquirer may hire someone to conduct an external audit of all aspects of a project, thus providing an outside review of the accuracy of the study.

The researcher may also look for disconfirming evidence. The process involves having the researcher first establish a theme and then look through all of the evidence for exceptions to this theme. This is evidence that presents an alternative explanation for a theme.

accounts. Peer debriefing is a final strategy that can be used in a study. A peer review or debriefing is the review of a project by someone who is familiar with the research or the central phenomenon being explored. This peer can provide support, play devil’s advocate, play challenger, and help refine the study.

Researchers can also reflect on how their experiences and backgrounds have an impact on shaping their accounts. By sharing these biases and beliefs, the accounts become more accurate. This is called reflexivity, and we devote an entire chapter to it (Chapter 26). At this point, however, we need to acknowledge that a qualitative account becomes more