Series: Practical guidance to qualitative research. Part 4: Trustworthiness and publishing

Figures & data

Table

Credibility	The confidence that can be placed in the truth of the research findings. Credibility establishes whether the research findings represent plausible information drawn from the participants’ original data and is a correct interpretation of the participants’ original views.
Transferability	The degree to which the results of qualitative research can be transferred to other contexts or settings with other respondents. The researcher facilitates the transferability judgment by a potential user through thick description.
Dependability	The stability of findings over time. Dependability involves participants’ evaluation of the findings, interpretation and recommendations of the study such that all are supported by the data as received from participants of the study.
Confirmability	The degree to which the findings of the research study could be confirmed by other researchers. Confirmability is concerned with establishing that data and interpretations of the findings are not figments of the inquirer’s imagination, but clearly derived from the data.
Reflexivity	The process of critical self-reflection about oneself as researcher (own biases, preferences, preconceptions), and the research relationship (relationship to the respondent, and how the relationship affects participant’s answers to questions).

Table

Criterion	Strategy	Definition
Credibility	Prolonged engagement	Lasting presence during observation of long interviews or long-lasting engagement in the field with participants. Investing sufficient time to become familiar with the setting and context, to test for misinformation, to build trust, and to get to know the data to get rich data.
	Persistent observation	Identifying those characteristics and elements that are most relevant to the problem or issue under study, on which you will focus in detail.
	Triangulation	Using different data sources, investigators and methods of data collection. • Data triangulation refers to using multiple data sources in time (gathering data in different times of the day or at different times in a year), space (collecting data on the same phenomenon in multiples sites or test for cross-site consistency) and person (gathering data from different types or level of people e.g. individuals, their family members and clinicians). • Investigator triangulation is concerned with using two ore researchers to make coding, analysis and interpretation decisions. • Method triangulation means using multiple methods of data collection.
	Member check	Feeding back data, analytical categories, interpretations and conclusions to members of those groups from whom the data were originally obtained. It strengthens the data, especially because researcher and respondents look at the data with different eyes.
Transferability	Thick description	Describing not just the behaviour and experiences, but their context as well, so that the behaviour and experiences become meaningful to an outsider.
Dependability and confirmability	Audit trail	Transparently describing the research steps taken from the start of a research project to the development and reporting of the findings. The records of the research path are kept throughout the study.
Reflexivity	Diary	Examining one’s own conceptual lens, explicit and implicit assumptions, preconceptions and values, and how these affect research decisions in all phases of qualitative studies.

Table

Standards for reporting qualitative research (SRQR)	Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ)
All aspects of qualitative studies.	Qualitative studies focusing on in-depth interviews and focus groups.
21 items for: title, abstract, introduction, methods, results/findings, discussion, conflicts of interest, and funding.	32 items for: research team and reflexivity, study design, data analysis, and reporting.