Biology Forums - Study Force

Describe the problems with validity and reliability in qualitative interviewing. What might help to overcome these problems?

●   Sample sizes are usually small in comparison to those used in quantitative work, and therefore members of the research community question whether the results of such studies are actually applicable to a wider population beyond those in the interview sample. This can be overcome by researchers depositing their data with established data banks and by ensuring that their data is made available to other interested researchers who may want to reanalyze it.
●   Lincoln and Guba (1985) have suggested that qualitative data be evaluated according to their trustworthiness. To increase the trustworthiness of qualitative interview data, researchers can ensure that their data are made available to other interested researchers who may want to reanalyze it. Researchers using qualitative interviews can also maximize the transferability (or generalizability) of their findings to populations beyond their immediate sample by selecting participants who are not entirely homogeneous.