Question

How can you assess the reliability and validity of qualitative research?

How does narrative analysis differ from content analysis?

Answer 1

Q1.

1. The extent to which results are consistent over time and an accurate representation of the total population under study is referred to as reliability and if the results of a study can be reproduced under a similar methodology, then the research instrument is considered to be reliable and Validity determines whether the research truly measures that which it was intended to measure or how truthful the research results are. In other words, does the research instrument allow you to hit 'the bull's eye of your research object? Researchers generally determine validity by asking a series of questions, and will often look for the answers in the research of others.
2.The use of reliability and validity are common in quantitative research and now it is reconsidered in the qualitative research paradigm. Since reliability and validity are rooted in positivist perspective then they should be redefined for their use in a naturalistic approach. Like reliability and validity as used in quantitative research are providing springboard to examine what these two terms mean in the qualitative research paradigm, triangulation as used in quantitative research to test the reliability and validity can also illuminate some ways to test or maximize the validity and reliability of a qualitative study.
3. Therefore, reliability, validity and triangulation, if they are relevant research concepts, particularly from a qualitative point of view, have to be redefined in order to reflect the multiple ways of establishing truth.

4. Qualitative analysis results in a different type of knowledge than does quantitative inquiry because one party argues from the underlying philosophical nature of each paradigm, enjoying detailed interviewing and the other focuses on the apparent compatibility of the research methods. This means such methods like interviews and observations are dominant in the naturalist paradigm and supplementary in the positive paradigm, where the use of survey serves in opposite order. Although it has been claimed Winter, 2000 that quantitative researchers attempt to disassociate themselves as much as possible from the research process, qualitative researchers have come to embrace their involvement and role within the research.

5. To understand the meaning of reliability and validity, it is necessary to present the various definitions of reliability and validity given by many qualitative researchers from different perspectives. Although the term 'Reliability is a concept used for testing or evaluating quantitative research, the idea is most often used in all kinds of research. If we see the idea of testing as a way of information elicitation then the most important test of any qualitative study is its quality.

6. The concept of validity is described by a wide range of terms in qualitative studies. This concept is not a processes and universal concept, but `rather a contingent construct, inescapably grounded in the an d intentions of particular research methodologies and projects.
7. If the validity or trustworthiness can be maximized or tested then more credible and defensible result
may lead generalizability which one is one of the concepts as the structure for both doing and documenting high quality qualitative research.Therefore, the quality of a research is related to generalizability of the result and thereby to the testing and increasing the validity or trustworthiness of the research.

Q2.

1. There are a number of different forms of both content analysis and narrative analysis. For content analysis, the usual range is between more quantitative approaches (which involve counting) and more qualitative approaches (that involve interpretation). Either way, you would be doing extensive coding of the data

2. Content analysis mostly deals with verbal materials,but however it can be manipulated by non-verbal materials and mostly used in quantitative research.Narrative analysis only deals with verbal materials and mostly used in quantitative research.Narrative analysis enables a complete to discourse that conserve context.

3. Content analysis more likely to provide quantitative evidence of specific predetermined themes whereas narrative analysis sets out to ascertain what themes and patterns exists in a body of narrative. Content analysis is a particularly reliable means of analyzing qualitative data in that reliability of coding decisions can be confirmed by revisiting previously coded data periodically to check the stability over time.

4. Content analysis facilitates the production of core constructs from textual data through a systematic method and reduction analysis. The number of times a similar piece of text or idea unit is attributed to a particular category can then be counted.Concepts  are then further explored and indexed according to  content in a process. But narrative analysis does not have a single heritage or methodology,has been described its epistemological influences. It draws, among other sources,upon philosophy, anthropology, sociology, psychology, and literary criticism. Such diversity  has led to the development of a wide range of approaches to, and uses of narrative as a form of qualitative research.Narrative analysis can be applied to any form of textual data generated from interviews.

5. The main distinctions between the two is that while content analysis dwells with description of media contents, the narrative in a quantitative enquiry deals with thematic presentation of findings from qualitative study. Simply, it is presentation by themes findings from qualitative study