Trustworthiness is the concept researchers use to ensure the quality, rigor, and credibility of a study to convince themselves and readers that the research findings are truthful and worthy of attention (Frey, 2018). Trustworthiness aims to justify why the research findings should be considered acceptable and worthy to the audience. This could be achieved by ensuring transparency in the methodology used in the study. The trustworthiness of a study could be used to establish harmony between the epistemological and ontological paradigms of the research study’s design, implementation, and articulation (Frey, 2018). Four aspects of trustworthiness exist that researchers must consider when carrying out research; credibility, dependability, transferability, and confirmability (Nowell et al., 2017).
Credibility, which is the most crucial aspect of establishing the trustworthiness of a study, is the extent to which the study findings are believable and considered appropriate by the readers. Thus, the study’s credibility is determined by the fit between the views of the respondents used in the study and the researcher’s representation of the views (Nowell et al., 2017). To establish credibility, the researcher links the study findings with reality to demonstrate the truth of the findings. Two techniques could be used to establish the credibility of a study; triangulation and participant validation/member checking. In this discussion, we will focus on the triangulation strategy of asserting the trustworthiness of a study.
Triangulation in qualitative research directly relates to the trustworthiness of the study as it involves the use of multiple indicators in a study as a way of conveying the dependability, credibility, and transferability of a study (Frey, 2018). With triangulation, multiple strategies are employed to eliminate the weaknesses of any specific research method used in the study and better understand the phenomenon. According to Frey (2018), four types of triangulation techniques could be employed in ensuring the trustworthiness of a study; researcher, data, theory, and methodological triangulation.
Researcher’s triangulation involves the use of multiple researchers in a study to combine varied unique insights in the research process. This triangulation method helps illuminate blind spots in the research process as the views of other researchers are critical in shading light on issues of importance in the study. On the other hand, data triangulation involves using two or more data sources to build a more comprehensive interpretation of the phenomenon under study. Data triangulation thus uses diverse data sources to ensure the consistency of research findings. Theory triangulation involves using multiple theoretical perspectives in analyzing data. Thus, various frameworks are essential in providing information on the context or dynamics that may be considered relevant to the study. Finally methodological triangulation refers to using both qualitative and quantitative research approaches in a study to maintain consistency in study findings. Methodological triangulation could also involve combining two or more qualitative research designs, such as phenomenology and grounded theory.
References
Frey, B. B. (2018). Trustworthiness. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation, (pp. 1729 -1731). https://doi.org/10.4135/9781506326139
Nowell, L. S., Norris, J. M., White, D. E., & Moules, N. J. (2017). Thematic Analysis:Striving to Meet the Trustworthiness Criteria. International journal of qualitative methods, 16(1), 1609406917733847. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406917733847