A Crash Course On Qualitative Study (Focusing on Validity)

The following notes are taken from Prof. Jonathan Sillito‘s Qualitative Research Methodology Course.

Qualitative vs. Quantitative: A False Dichotomy

Basic Methods

• Descriptive statistics
• Statistical tests
• Bayesian analysis
• “Coding”

Validity

1. Conclusion validity – is there a relationship between the variables?
2. Internal validity – is the relationship causal?
3. Construct validity – does theoretical model match operationalization?
4. External validity – do findings generalize to other groups/places/times?

More About Validity

• Credibility (~internal validity) – how believable from the perspective of the participants?
• Transferability (~external validity) – what about other contexts?

More Than One Method

• Triangulation – test findings in different ways
• Complementarity – clarify and illustrate results from one method with another.