A thesis is supposed to have a separate section about how the scientific quality of the research has been secured. My stand is that the whole idea of a separate chapter on
methodological issues is to report on the transparency of the research process and securing scientific quality. The idea of reflexivity has to guide the entire process of reporting methodological choices (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2008). If this is the case, all of the sections in the chapter on methodology concern securing scientific quality. However, the issues of validity, transparency, reliability, and generalization also need to be explicitly elaborated on.
Validity is a complex and manifold term. Important questions that are asked to secure validity
in this research are: Are the findings trustworthy (Whittemore, Chase, & Mandle, 2001), and can they be related to how other research constructs the phenomenon? Are the findings sufficiently authentic? Would I feel secure enough about these findings to construct social policy based on them (Cuba & Lincoln, 2005, p. 205)? Lincoln (1995) argues that the criteria for judging the quality of qualitative and interpretive research are fluid and constantly emerging. In an interpretive approach such as this one, validity cannot be established through
referring to ‘an entity discovered out there.’ Validity is strengthened through a transparent exploration of statements and beliefs explored in text and talk.
This chapter started out by giving an outline of the research design, and by identifying the object of analysis, the research approach, and strategy. This was done to secure
transparency. Transparency of the procedures and the research process is necessary to secure that all stages the intentions of the research are exposed. The method and material are described, and the analytical tools and theoretical framework are explicitly discussed. This is all done to ensure a necessary professional distance from the empirical material. Such transparency also assists in carrying out accurate and representative work. The aim is to “come clean” about standpoints and positions (Lincoln, 1995, p. 280). Lincoln calls this “communicative validity” (1995, p. 199). Since this is a dissertation that contains a collection of articles that deviate somewhat from one another, is has been important to specify the different analytical strategies in each. This is provided for in this extended abstract, as well as in each article. Another important ‘criterion’ for securing validity has been to lean on my research community as arbiter of quality of the research (Lincoln, 1995). By ‘community’ I mean both the more local and physical community in research groups, at conferences, and with reviewers involved with research on teacher education in both country contexts, as well as the recognized rules and procedures from research literature within my field.
Reliability is a question of the consistency and trustworthiness of the research design
and findings. It depends upon the quality of the empirical material and conceptualizations, the coherence of the arguments, and the depth of the analysis. I have already described aspects that are important for reliability, such as, e.g., the reflection on the processes of interviewing, my role as a researcher, and the relationship between research design and research questions. One important aspect is the richness of the empirical material. Reliability in this thesis is not grounded in the representativeness of the material and sampling, but in the voice the empirical material gives to the phenomena studied. The interviewees talked and engaged, and through this they gave a rich description of themselves that enriched the material. Moreover, in-depth analyses of the curricula documents were conducted. Another important aspect is reflexivity throughout the research process, thick descriptions of situations and contexts, and extensive use of quotations when documenting analysis and findings.
I have also presented and discussed the empirical material with other researchers to check and secure my interpretations. Here, I want to focus on two additional issues:
transcription and coding. Most of the transcriptions were conducted by others. However, I listened to all of the interviews, and checked and corrected the transcripts. As I have explained above, both inductive and deductive analytical strategies were used, both on the interview texts and with the curricula documents. Seale (1999, p. 154) argues that “coding that fixes meaning too early in the analytic process may stultify creative thought, blocking the analyst’s capacity for seeing new things.” In this research, it was very important to let the initial phases of the analysis remain quite open and not let the analysis become over- theorized. Therefore, the analysis started out more like indexing (Seale, 1999) (writing summaries, grouping together texts thematically, and so on). This was followed by the narrowing and combination of codes and by relating them to theoretical conceptualizations in each article.
Generalization does not apply very well to particularization. However, in qualitative
research, two forms of generalization are usually discussed: theoretical/analytical and case-to- case generalization (Miles & Huberman, 1994, p. 279). First, the findings of this study cannot be generalized to a population (Norwegian and Finnish teachers), but the differenced revealed in article 3 can nevertheless be related to theoretical perspectives concerning possible implications of different ways of constructing knowledge for the teaching profession (theoretical generalization). A case-by-case generalization is also made possible by a thick description of one case, followed by the replication of the research design. I would argue for and expand upon three specific aspects of generalization that are applicable to the present thesis. Two of these broadly apply to case-by-case generalization, and one applies to theoretical/analytical generalization.
First, the design is combined in such a way that it will be relevant for discussions and comparisons in many other cases and contexts. Policy making, curricula texts for teacher education, and novice teachers are, in most national contexts, key aspects of the construction of knowledge for the teaching profession. In most country contexts, politicians, researchers, and practitioners would be able to relate to the design, which allows for the emphasis of the structures and relations involved. How these structures and relations can be understood is, of course, an empirical question. Secondly, the two teacher education programs compared in this study can be related to other teacher education programs internationally. Third, even though the findings of this thesis cannot establish causal explanations, the findings give reasons to argue that there is a connection between policy making, curricula content, and novice
teachers’ knowledge relations. These findings could be transferred analytically beyond this particular research.