Lesson 4 · Qualitative and Mixed Methods · Step 4 of 4
Quality and rigor in qualitative and mixed methods research
Qualitative research has quality criteria, built on a different logic: bias is treated as inevitable, so decisions must be visible enough for readers to judge. Credibility asks whether findings represent participants, through triangulation, member checking and peer debriefing. Transferability rests on thick description. Dependability rests on an audit trail and codebook. Confirmability needs reflexivity, claims traced to data and attention to negative cases. Mixed methods studies face one more test: remove either strand, and the other should no longer tell the whole story.
Also covered: credibility and transferability · dependability and confirmability · negative case analysis · integration quality
Alongside this step
- Slides and transcript — the whole video
- Read the chapter — Qualitative and Mixed Methods
Check yourself
5 questions, marked as you go. Nothing is recorded as a grade and nothing is locked behind it — if a question catches you out, that is the useful part.
Lesson 4 · 4 steps
Research Designs · lesson 4 of 5