Thoughts on How to Incresae the Trustworthiness of Qualitative Research

Qualitative research can take many forms, but at the core of this methodology is the intention to uncover meanings people assign to their lived experiences (Padgett, 2008). It is essential to unpacking complex issues and serves to promote social work values by prioritizing the voices of participants often gone unheard (Gilgun & Abrams, 2002). However, the lack of specificity regarding measures of rigor has caused some to question the quality and trustworthiness of qualitative research. In response, there is an ongoing demand for more effective and straightforward approaches to qualitative research (Elo, Kääriäinen, Kanste, Pölkki, Utriainen, & Kyngäs, 2014). The Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research recently published guidelines for manuscripts that report qualitative research in order to increase the transparency of qualitative methodology and the credibility of such findings (Wu, Wyant, & Frasure, 2016).

The purpose of this roundtable is to generate discussion on the methods and processes related to increasing the rigor of qualitative research. Presenters will discuss strategies they have found useful in increasing the credibility of their research. Specifically, they will discuss the co-coder relationship, development of a co-coding process, use of NVivo to enhance their inter-coder agreement and reliability, and approach to thematic analysis. The co-coding process is seen as valuable (Padgett, 2016), but little has been published as to what makes for a dynamic co-coding relationship, especially with inductive content analysis (Elo, Kääriäinen, Kanste, Pölkki, Utriainen, & Kyngäs, 2014). Presenter discussion will highlight the value of diverse backgrounds among co-coders, and ways to reduce a mechanical approach to the process. Additionally, participants will be asked to share successful processes they have used to strengthen the rigor of their research.

References

Elo, S., Kääriäinen, M., Kanste , O., Pölkki, T., Utrainen, K., & Kyngäs, H. (2014). Qualitative content analysis: A focus on trustworthiness. SAGE Open, 4(1), 1-10.

Gilgun, J. F., & Abrams, L. S. (2002). The nature and usefulness of qualitative social work research. Qualitative Social Work, 1(1), 39-55.

Padgett, D. (2016). Qualitative Methods in Social Work Research: Challenges and Rewards (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Wu, S., Wyant, D., & Fraser, M. (2016, Summer). Author guidelines for manuscripts reporting on qualitative research. Journal of the Society for Social Work & Research, 7.