Validity and Reliability
Credibility, validity, and reliability, are three important terms in qualitative research. A study should produce credible findings, have a method suitable for achieving these findings and be conducted so that other researchers can reproduce the findings by using the same method (Ary, Jacobs & Sorensen, 2010).
In this study, I have tried to interpret and present my findings as accurately as possible. I have tried to be transparent, so readers can read and understand my choice of method, and thereby trust my results. However, I am aware that “When dealing with qualitative methods, it is important to emphasize that the researcher to a certain degree “creates” data based on the understanding she or he has of the society” (Thagaard, 2009, p.47, my translation). As I will elaborate further on in the following subsection, my original ideas of what the results would show proved to be wrong, and I have by no means manipulated the data to suit my original ideas. Therefore, I would state the realities have been presented correctly. I have complied with the obligation as a researcher “to represent the realities of the research participants as accurately as possible and must provide assurances in the report that this obligation was met” (Ary et. al, 2010, p.498).
59 “Validity in the social science is concerned with whether a method is qualified to research what it is supposed to research (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2010, p.250, my translation). To secure the validity of my findings, and also the reliability, I have as mentioned, asked questions such as “Have I understood you correctly when you say…?” and in this way made sure I have a common understanding with my informants, and of their utterances. In this process, I hope to have strengthened the validity by critically considering the analytic process (Thagaard, 2009). I have been conscious not to pull quotes without confirming the context in which they were uttered. To ensure the utterances would be presented as accurately as possible, I transcribed the entire interview, including sounds, pauses and hesitancies. Additionally, I have consulted these transcriptions continuously when interpreting the utterances and writing and interpreting my findings.
According to Kvale and Brinkmann (2010), reliability is often placed in a context with the question of whether another researcher can reproduce the same results. By carefully reading and re-reading my empirical data, and working with the interpretations carefully, I am
confident that my results are presented accurately. However, Gadamer (2003) expresses that: No utterances can be perceived exclusively with focus on its content. Every utterance is motivated. Every utterance has conditions that it does not express itself. Only one, who takes these conditions into consideration, can really assess an utterance’s truth (p. 27, my
translation).
As a result, my interpretations may to some degree differ from another researcher’s interpretations, yet, I think that the overall results would come out similar.
4.3.1 Preconception and Own Role
Regardless of choice of method, our preconception will always affect our research. Therefore, to consciously and critically evaluate own preconception, is important in relation to securing reliability, credibility and validity. Considering this, I will in the following subsection explain my background and preconception.
For the past three years, I have in addition to studying at the University of Oslo (UiO), worked as a teacher in a lower secondary school. In this study, the lower secondary school is the context, and it is from my experience of working as a teacher that the topic of the NTE came to mind, as discussed in the introduction. My preconception related to the lower
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secondary school will of course affect the research process. Before working with the pilot study, and with only my own experiences of working with the NTE, I had a preconception and idea that the reason why I, and probably other teachers in the same position as me, did not work with the NTE was mostly due to a lack of communication from the Directorate. I had also heard rumours and complaints from teachers that the data system PAS was difficult to use and lacked necessary information. However, after the work with the pilot study and this thesis, parts of my ideas proved wrong, and my preliminary negative assumptions towards the Directorate proved to be misguided.
As I had some years of experience from the lower secondary school, I did not see the
necessity of doing preliminary studies to get acquainted with the field. I experience that I have an adequate understanding and is familiar with the culture of the lower secondary school. However, I am fully aware that my three years of experience is not sufficient to give me a full understanding of the lower secondary school as a whole, and as I am still young and have attained most of my experience part time, I am humble to the fact that my experiences are somewhat limited. Nevertheless, in this context I am confident that they are sufficient and that the limitations to my experiences have not been a disadvantage, but rather that is has been to my benefit to attain experience in the field at the same time as my education at UiO. The constant combination of theory and practice has given me the opportunity to critically evaluate practices at the lower secondary school, while studying the pedagogical teaching at UiO. Additionally, my preconception might be less biased due to my short time of experience as a teacher, and the fact that I have had two sets of influences: from the lower secondary school, and from UiO. My preconception has also, to a large extent, been a motivational factor for my studies. In my experience, I have been consciously aware of my preconception and have used this to my benefit throughout the work with this study.
4.4
In this Chapter…
In this chapter, the method for this master’s thesis has been presented with the exploratory and qualitative research design, along with the study’s setting, sample and informants. Also, the method for data collection and the method for the analysis of the empirical data were included in this section. Different aspects of considerations for research ethics were
emphasized, and in the following chapter, I will present my findings from the interviews with the school leaders and the teachers.
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5 PRESENTATION OF FINDINGS
In this chapter, I present my findings from the interviews with the school leaders and the teachers. It comprises of three main sections: 1) a presentation of the findings from the interviews with the school leaders, 2) a presentation of the findings from the interviews with the teachers, and 3) an analysis of the comparing and contrasting answers from the school leaders and the teachers. All three sections are additionally divided in five subsections: 1) Attitudes towards PAS and the guidance material provided by the Directorate, 2) Preparations before taking the NTE, 3) Using the results from the NTE, 4) Thoughts about improvement, and 5) Summing up. These sub sections are based on my interview guides (Appendix 3 & 4). Hopefully these findings will provide new insight into how school leaders and teachers relate to, and use the results from the NTE. Having provided a brief overview of this chapter, I will now turn to the findings from the interviews with the school leaders.