Validity and reliability

The importance of reliability and credibility in qualitative studies is underscored in the literature on humanities and social science research (see for example Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Robson, 2002). The need for triangulation to ensure that

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the research study involves “cross-checking the accuracy of data obtained from one source with data collected from other, different sources” (LeCompte & Schensul, 1999:131) is also highlighted. Therefore, although this research focused on Apex University, it also sought to gain confirmation and triangulation of data by conducting additional research at Rise University. Even though such a strategy involved multiple data collection strategies that conformed to environments within the research sites, the research data gathered cannot claim to be unbiased or absolute. Participation and interaction with administrative staff at the research sites afforded a more in-depth and reflexive journal (Edge, 2011) that helped in analysing data. Supervisors at Victoria University were helpful in monitoring data collection procedures and suggested ways to resolve problems during fieldwork.

The data gathered should be seen as essentially a set of opinions and views recorded in a given situation at a certain time. Many global events of local significance have taken place since the interviews were undertaken in 2004- 2005. For example, the political turmoil surrounding the Chief Justice of Pakistan occurred in the first half of 2007, while the Siege of the Red Mosque in Lahore took place in July 2007, followed by the ousting of President Musharraf in 2009. The Islamic revivalist movement has taken a front seat in Pakistani politics and this in turn has solidified opinions within the local populace. These developments have significant implications for the reliability and validity of the data when considered in the context of the current situation in Pakistan. Therefore, with reference to this research, it can only be claimed that every effort was undertaken to collect the data systematically and in line with perspectives at the time. The reliability and validity of the analysis can only be viewed in terms of the data captured and presented within that specific time- frame. Arguably replication through an identical research study undertaken today would yield different results.

4.9.3 The vantage point

In any analysis, the researcher observes and records his/her observations. It is on the basis of these observations that he/she analyses the evidence that is gathered. The vantage point that the researcher claims to occupy while research is conducted can be seen as an attempt to objectify and validate the analysis (Silverman, 1993; Seale, 1999; Seale et al., 2004). Of course, the interpretation of the evidence collected is entirely up to the researcher and the analysis is self-regulated. Given such a subjective approach, validation is a difficult, if not impossible goal. What does the researcher do? Of course, if the researcher is foreign to the situation or culture being researched then he/she will find it virtually impossible to understand. At best, he/she will gain the perspective of the ‘Other’. But if the researcher is of the same culture arguably the difficulty can be overcome, or can it? If for the foreign researcher, discourses present the peoples of other cultures as "immobilized by their belonging to a place" (Appadurai, 1992) then what happens to a researcher belonging to the culture he/she researches? Does he/she not face the same fate? Does having knowledge of the ‘Other’ make the researcher an amalgamation of a myriad of discourses? Does he/she not belong to many discursive communities? So what vantage point can researchers claim to have when researching their own identity? Mazrui (2002:7) argues that “in order to understand fully some aspects of a society, it is not enough simply to observe it; you have to be a member of it.” The discourses collected and classified here are ones observed and supported by views relayed in interviews and meetings. It is essential to point out here that this thesis is written from a specific vantage point. It is written from the point of the insider who has remained on the outside long enough to see the inside in a different light. Such a point of observation makes it easier for the Western academic to identify and empathize as the research is conducted in norms that are identifiable to Western academia (Merriam, 1988; Stake, 1995; Kvale, 1996; Maxwell, 2005; Kvale and Brinkman, 2009). But even though this research highlights the benefit of capturing insider knowledge, this thesis does not claim any objectification or superiority. Instead it presents the possibility of communication between discourses and, more

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to capture the dynamism of a culture for a brief instant by showing the discursive realities that people have immersed themselves in.

INTRODUCTION TO DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS CHAPTERS

The data presentation and analysis is set out in the next three chapters. The reason for doing so lies in the complexity encountered when sifting and analysing the data. The initial contextual frames of reference reveal further undercurrents of discursive alignments within knowledge and language specific discourse. This approach within a discourse allows a more comprehensive analysis of how participants’ responses are indicative of the discursive strategies employed.

The trilogy presents the data from Apex University (Apex) and Rise University (Rise) in Pakistan. The first chapter examines the data within a postcolonial context and analyses it with special reference to language discourse. The second chapter in presents the data from an Islamic anthropological perspective and examines the use of language discourses within this context. The third chapter presents and analyses the data within the context of hybridity and again highlights the role of discourse from this perspective.

It will be argued that there is a need for specific knowledge and language discourses within each given context, such that it helps to generate a more detailed examination of discursive strategies that are formed, employed and embedded within the data. Such an examination assists in analysing the formation of participants’ perspectives within each of the discursive paradigms.

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Gripping ideas amid trackless sands, these people are slaves to time. The love of the past, a painfully moulded frieze on which their pride rests. They persist in seeing the present through the eyes of their elders. But what of the past? It is a past filled with morbid tales, heroes and villains, victories and failures, of praise and remorse.

'But why dwell on the criminations and recriminations that scar the historical sense of a nation, of a community, of a psyche?' he asked.

It is the souls that live in these lost shadows that like countless petals unfold themselves vulnerable to judgement. Drawing them near is laying bare the kernel of truth on which nations rest.

'Why see the present through the past? Does the past not color the present, and depict it with a self-defeating ambiguity?'

No. It is as water shapes the fluidity of memories, surges into tiny crevices, filling out and reinforcing all at the same time. The present boldly fills out the past; it is a solid manifestation that encourages a future. It is the firmness that lends its resilience to a nation, a community and a psyche.

CHAPTER 5