Validity & Assumptions

What makes our research valid?

Internal Validity

Internal validity in qualitative research answers the question of whether or not the research collected and data obtained answers the research question at hand.
How sound is our research?
How dependable and reliable is the research?

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Possible Threats to Internal Validity

Selection/researcher bias (Includes obvious race, gender, age, however researcher bias can also include favoring one theory and neglecting another)
Interpretation (Researcher imposes his/her own meaning of the response instead of understanding the viewpoint of the individual)
Instrumentation/Recording (Not recording interviews completely and accurately/instrument used to collect data can change over time...researcher can become more experienced or fatigued throughout the interview process)
Maturation (If follow up interviews are being conducted over time, variables can change which can potentially affect the findings)

External validity

External validity in qualitative research refers to the transfer-ability (generalizability) of the results. In other words to which situations and circumstances outside of the study group can these results be applied?
Lack of external validity means that findings cannot be applied (or are limited) to other contexts outside of the current study.

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Possible Threats to External Validity

Participant Characteristics (is the sample representative (or not representative)?
Setting (The extent to which the context of the setting is representative (or not representative) which can then be generalized)
Interview effects (Participants may act differently knowing they are part of a study)
Timing (Example...conducting a smoking cessation interview one week after the Surgeon General issues well publicized results of the latest smoking and cancer studies)

Assumptions

Interviewee is a willing participant and may revoke participation at any time.
Authentic voice of research participants related to their lived experience is represented in the findings.
The accounts that participants reveal during an interview bears a direct relationship to their real experiences beyond the interview room.
The interviewer has consciously set aside any presuppositions pertaining to the topic being studied and maintains an awareness of how these presuppositions can taint the research process.

References

Bhattacherjee, A. (2012). Social science research: Principles, methods, and practices (2nd ed.). Textbooks Collection. Book 3. Retrieved from http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/oa_textbooks/3

Bolderstein, A. (2012). Direct reading article. Journal of Medical Imaging and Radiation Sciences, 43(1). 66-76.

Brod, M., Tesler, L. E., & Christenson, T. (2009). Qualitative research and content validity: Developing best practices based on science and experience. Quality of Life Research 18(9).1263-1278.

Cassell, C., & Simon, G. (2004). Essential Guide to Qualitative Methods in Organizational Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Froehlich, A. (2015, Sept 22nd). External and internal validity [Video File]. Retrieved from https:// www. youtube .com/watch?v=V3StgmV1LsM&t=88s

Grant, A. (2014). Troubling lived experience: A post structural critique of mental health nursing qualitative research assumptions. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 21(6). 544-560.

Lund Research. (2012). Internal Validity. Retrieved from http://dissertation.laerd.com/internal-validity-p4.php

Malterud, K. (2001). Qualitative Research: Standards, challenges and guidelines. The Lancet (358)9280. 483-488.

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