1. Validity and Reliability
Qualitative research methods
Validity and Reliability
Kevin Meethan and Alison Anderson

2. Reliability, Validity Generalisability and Replicability
Reliability, Validity Generalisability and Replicability: Do they apply to qualitative research?
These four concepts are always at the fore-font of any discussion about research methods and need some consideration here.
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3. Reliability
Bryman (2008) notes that there are three ways in which we talk
about reliability:
Reliability usually refers to how consistently your data is measured, in other words if we were to undertake a study and the redo it later we would get the same results.
It can also refer to whether or not the indicators that are used in the scales are consistent, that is the answers to one question are related to answers to other questions. This is often referred to as internal reliability. For example we would not expect someone who had a stated preference for the colour blue to prefer something that was red rather than something that was blue
Inter-observer consistency is where we can be sure that what one person observed is what another person would also observe in that
situation
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4. Validity
Validity may appear similar to reliability but there are some differences, Bryman notes that there are five ways in which the term is used, but they all address the issue of the extent to which the measure accurately reflects what you are trying to address in your research.
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5. Generalisability
Generalisability is quite simply where we can expect that the findings of our research can be generalised to a wider population than those we studied

6. Replicability
Replicability is more commonly associated with scientific experiments. Let’s suppose that a chemist has formulates a hypothesis that putting X and Y together will produce Z. The first time it is tried the result is Z, and then, no matter how many times it is replicated, the answer is consistently Z.
This means we can then predict that X+Y=Z
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7. Replicability and Qualitative Research
In terms of the social research, the question then is can a study be replicated in the same way?
It is this latter point that tends to cause the greatest problems for qualitative research, however we also have to think if criteria derived from both the natural sciences and quantitative methods are the most appropriate yardsticks for qualitative research which often seeks out subjective meanings as data.
One approach put forward by Lincoln and Guba (1985) is to think in terms of ‘trustworthiness’ which consists of four elements
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8. Trustworthiness 1. Credibility - good research design & practice
 2. Transferability – you could expect to see similar (if not exact) processes under similar circumstances
 3. Dependability – you are advised to keep a complete record of the research process so it can be ‘audited’.
4. Confirmability - researcher must account for the fact that their own biases may influence the results, sometimes this is also referred to as reflexivity
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9. References
Bryman, A. (2008 3rd edition) Social Research Methods. Oxford University Press: Oxford
Lincoln, Y. and Guba, E. (1985) Naturalistic Inquiry. Beverley Hills: Sage.
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Author
Kevin Meethan and Alison Anderson
Institute
University of Plymouth
Title
Validity and Reliability
Date Created
23 February 2011
Educational Level
Level 4
Keywords
UKOER LFWOER UOPCPDRM Learning from WOeRK , WBL, Work Base Learning, CPD, Continuous Professional Development, Qualitative Research, Validity, Reliability
©University of Plymouth, 2010, some rights reserved
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