Project Summary: Strategies for Ensuring Quality in Qualitative Research The readings for this week address all the ways that qualitative research may falter in quality or where the quality of the study may be questioned. For this Discussion, you will reflect on the data collection Mini-Project that you completed last week and analyze how you ensured the quality and trustworthiness of your process, data, and conclusions. To prepare for this Discussion: Review this weeks reading on quality. Reflect on the data collection test activity you completed. What steps did you take to ensure quality, trustworthiness, and credibility for your process, data, and conclusions? Moreover, what steps did you take to reduce bias? Looking back on the experience, what would you continue to do that was successful, and what practices would you change next time? What strategies can you recommend to your fellow researchers for ensuring quality in a research situation that is similar to yours? With these thoughts in mind: QUESTION: Post a paragraph briefly describing your data collection test and the steps you took to ensure quality, trustworthiness, and credibility (including reducing bias). In a second paragraph, recommend strategies to your fellow researchers for ensuring quality. These might be strategies you used and found successful, or these may be strategies you would use in the future. When appropriate, be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the reading(s) and/or video program(s), using APA format. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Introduction Quality is a term you probably hear often that can have varying meanings depending on the context. For qualitative research, quality means ensuring that the data is free from biases on the part of the researcher and that it is an accurate portrayal of the situation. This week, you will examine your data and outline the methods you used in order to ensure that your results have quality. Learning Outcomes By the end of this week, you will be able to: Recommend strategies for ensuring quality in qualitative research Self-assess progress with advanced qualitative reasoning and analysis _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Required Resources Course Text: Qualitative Research Design: An Interactive Approach o Chapter 6, "Validity: How Might You Be Wrong?" In this chapter, you will review how to test your research study for validity and the two specific validity threats of bias and reactivity. Course Text: Qualitative Data Analysis: A Methods Sourcebook o Chapter 10, "Drawing and Verifying Conclusions," pp. 310 321 In this excerpt from Chapter 10, you will review the standards for the quality of conclusions, as well as documentation. Course Text: Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches o Chapter 10, "Standards of Validation and Evaluation" This chapter discusses the standards of validation and evaluation in qualitative research, including validation strategies, reliability perspectives, and evaluation criteria. The reading also compares the evaluation standards of the five approaches. Course Text: Patton, M. Q. (2015). Qualitative research & evaluation methods (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. o Chapter 9, "Enhancing the Quality and Credibility of Qualitative Analysis" In this chapter, you will continue to explore quality and credibility in qualitative analysis. You will read about alternative criteria for judging quality, strategies for enhancing the quality of an analysis, the credibility of a researcher, and increased legitimacy for qualitative methods. Research Toolkit Handouts o Walden Dissertation Rubric Available from http://researchcenter.waldenu.edu/ The Dissertation Rubric is a Word document linked in the section for PhD Dissertation Process and Documents. o Walden Qualitative Dissertations This document directs you to dissertations in the Walden Library that use a variety of qualitative approaches and disciplines. Websites o Walden University: Office of Student Research Support http://researchcenter.waldenu.edu/Office-of-Research-Administration.htm