Chapter 3 – Actor-network Theory
4.4 Reliability and Validity Issues
4.4.1 Triangulation
Triangulation is defined as the combination of at least two or more theoretical perspectives, methodological approaches, data sources, investigators or data analysis methods (Thurmond 2001). Easterby-Smith et al. (2002) highlighted that there are four different categories of triangulation in social research, namely, theoretical, data, investigator and methodological triangulation, as follows:
1. Theoretical triangulation involves borrowing models from one discipline and using them to explain situations in another discipline;
2. Data triangulation refers to research where data is collected over different timeframes, or from different sources;
3. Triangulation by investigators is where different people collect data on the same situation and data, and the results are then compared;
4. Methodological triangulation refers to using both quantitative and qualitative methods for data collection. For instance, using questionnaires, interviews, telephone surveys and field studies in collecting data.
The reliability and validity test is important in research as it ensures that the data collection is valid, and that a fair and accurate representation of the population is provided. Merriam (1995) highlighted that in qualitative research, rigor is a valid concern. Qualitative researchers employ different means of persuading the reader that a study is trustworthy. Qualitative research persuades the reader through its classical strength of a concrete depiction of detail, portrayal of process in an active mode, and attention to the perspectives of the study (Merriam 1995).
120 4.4.1.1 Reliability in Qualitative Research
Reliability in field research depends on a researcher’s insight, awareness, suspicions and questions (Neuman 2007). In addition, the reliability of qualitative research is dependent on what the respondents tell the researcher. This makes the credibility of the respondents and their statements part of the reliability. Subjectivity and context are also taken into account when the researcher evaluates credibility (Neuman 2007). Merriam (1995) pointed out that it has never been easy to express reliability in social science, because human behaviour is never static. However, in qualitative research, reliability is concerned with ensuring that the results of a study are consistent with the data collected (Merriam 1995). Therefore, to help ensure the reliability of the findings of this research, the researcher conducted the study at different organisations based in the public and private sectors. In addition, the inclusion of a number of respondents involved from the procurer and supplier side for each sector would ensure that the answers sought by the researcher were reliable. This is because different respondents would be likely to give different opinions when identifying the social issues that influence negotiation in e-procurement.
This research used data triangulation whereby the data was collected from different sources, in order to triangulate the findings (Easterby-Smith et al. 2002). Firstly, interviews were conducted between the two different parties involved in the negotiation process in an e-procurement network (namely, procurers and suppliers). These two groups were chosen in order to obtain the real-life situations on how negotiation operates between these two parties in e-procurement. Secondly, the researcher conducted the interviews at different organisations including those in the public and private sectors.
The researcher was motivated to conduct interviews with organisations from the two different sectors due to the fact that the use of e-procurement in both the public and private sectors will lead to organisations improving the effectiveness and profitability of their procurement operations (Hardy and William 2007).
121 4.4.1.2 Validity in Qualitative Research
There are two types of validity for qualitative research: internal validity and external validity (Merriam 1995). The test of the internal validity for this research was conducted through member checks. In this case the researcher sent the interview transcripts, together with the coding and the interpretation of the data, to the interviewees. This ensured the plausibility of the interpretation of the material. The researcher’s supervisor also checked the data findings in order to ensure the plausibility of the interpretation of data. The external validity of this research was ensured through the use of multiple cases;
two came from the public sector and two from the private sector. This allows the research results to be applied to a greater range of other similar situations, although the goal of qualitative research is to understand the particular phenomenon in-depth.
Furthermore, this research provides enough information or descriptions of the phenomenon under study.
4.5 Summary
Interpretive qualitative research was used to conduct this research. The purpose of using this approach as a research design was to explore, explain and describe the phenomenon of interest, which is negotiation in the sourcing process between partners in e-procurement, in both the public and the private sector. The main interest of this research is to find the social issues that influence negotiation in the e-procurement environment, and the qualitative approach is designed to enhance our understanding of people and the social and cultural context in which they live (Myers and Avison 2002). Thus it was considered that the use of qualitative research as the approach for conducting this research would enable the researcher to answer the questions posed in Chapter 1 (Section 1.4).
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Multiple case studies in Melbourne, Australia, were chosen for this study. Twelve respondents were identified, including both procurers and suppliers. The respondents included Directors of Strategic Sourcing and Procurement, Procurement Managers, Logistics Managers and General Managers. The data collection approaches and protocols utilised for conducting the interviews have been specified and discussed. The data analysis approach has been presented, including its use of the inductive thematic analysis of raw data in order to identify the categories or themes within the four case studies.
Finally, matters of validity and reliability were discussed. Chapters 5 and 6 discuss the findings based on each case focused on the public sector. Chapters 7 and 8 discuss the findings based on each case focused on the private sector. Chapter 9 discusses the findings from this study in the context of the existing literature.
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