Discussing
the Validity of Research
John Creswell uses chapters 8 and 9
to focus on the specific components that make up quantitative and qualitative research. In an effort to provide his readers
with a baseline for both research methods, Creswell utilizes a linear method of
explanation (both methods are explained from beginning to end); in other words,
in both chapters, each method is presented like a series of building blocks
(Creswell even presents his readers with different checklists to use when
creating and composing research).
In chapter 8, Creswell explains the quantitative research
method in detail. As mentioned
before, he uses a linear building block form of instruction to explain to his readers not
only the methods of creating a survey (he explains the difference between a
quasi-experiment and a true experiment – I found this to be extremely useful (pg
155)), but he also explains how to pick and examine the population who takes
part in the survey (the checklist on 156 is also helpful when examining a
specific population). Because
Creswell is explaining quantitative research in this chapter, he explains in
detail the importance of informing an audience of the different variables in
the experiment (what or whom is being experimented, and what are the expected
outcomes – independent and dependent variables). Before ending the chapter, Creswell explains the threats to
validity and the importance of interpreting results: “Address whether the
results might have occurred because of inadequate experimental procedures, such
as threats to internal validity, and indicate how the results might be
generalized to certain people, settings, and times” (167).
In chapter 9, Creswell gives the readers a detailed
explanation of the qualitative procedures in a research project. By fully explaining the specific characteristics
of this type of research, Creswell continues his linear method of explanation,
which I believe is important for qualitative research, because it is less
formulaic than quantitative research (a great checklist is provide on pg 174). Because qualitative is the antithesis
to quantitative design, the explanation of human perception is completely
outlined as a characteristics: “In the entire qualitative research process, the
researcher keeps a focus on learning the meaning that the participants hold
about the problem or issue, not the
meaning that the researchers bring to the research or writers express in the
literature” (pg 175 – emphasis added). Like the previous chapter, Creswell lines out the different
steps to data analysis and data recording; the details in the processes for
collecting, recording, and analyzing are more detailed because of the abstract
nature of this research.
Like quantitative research, the qualitative design does have threats to
validity. Although Creswell
accurately explains the nature of validity in qualitative research and the significance
of reliability factors, I believe he deemphasizes the importance of validating a
response in the more abstract forms of qualitative research: “Validity does not
carry the same connotations in qualitative research as it does in quantitative
research, nor is it a companion of reliability (exampling stability or consistency
of responses) or generalizability (the external validity of applying results to
new settings, people or samples…” (190).
Even though qualitative research relies on the perception of knowledge
to convince an audience of a probable truth (juxtaposed to an absolute truth),
the threats to validity should be considered just as severe. If an author utilizes only a small portion
of evidence, which is actually part of a larger study that might hurt an
expected outcome, to his or her advantage, then Creswell has to agree that this
researcher has severely altered the validity of the outcome.
No comments:
Post a Comment