One of the reviewers of my submitted manuscript asked about the study's formative evaluation. In my understanding, in a qualitative research credibility of the research is addressed by the triangulation. Any suggestions?
Hi Leyla,
Congrats on your revise and resubmit!
Triangulation is one way to assure reviews that the results you are presenting are sufficiently grounded in the data. It is not the only way of ensuring your audience that your data analysis was rigorous (e.g., interrater reliability, data trail, etc.).
It sounds like this question isn't so much concerned with results you are reporting though--they are more concerned with the intervention you are reporting on. Presumably, you created an intervention and are reporting it's efficacy in the paper in question. If the reviewer is asking about the formative evaluation they mean to ask how you developed the intervention. Was there 'pilot testing', for example. Did you adjust the intervention based on some early feedback?
Good luck with the reviewer.
-Sean
Hello Sean,
Thank you for your response. I did not do a pilot study. However, I discussed the intervention with my research partners and asked the participants for their feedback at each stage of the intervention.
Hi Leyla,
So you could answer that you consulted with other experts in the field when creating the intervention. You could give an example of how those meetings helped shape the intervention if you wanted. For example, one of them may have suggested changing the wording of a directive or alerted you to some literature that helped make the intervention more specific for your population.
-Sean
Yes, I agree with you that the triangulation of data sources (interview, observation, focus groups, other documentary sources) is one way of ensuring that qualitative research findings are valid. And note that triangulation can also be based on participants-based. Thus, by comparing participants' data for commonalities and contradictions. Other approaches include member checking, where both transcribed data and drafts of the research reports are sent back to the research participants for validation/interpretation and cross-checking. This will ensure that you have reflexively and respectfully represented their lived experiences well. You can also seek expert opinion on your work by sharing reprints with them for comments.
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