The Foundations of Qualitative Research - Rachel Ormston, Liz Spencer, Matt Barnard, Dawn Snape The Applications of Qualitative Methods to Social Research - Jane Ritchie and Rachel Ormston Design Issues - Jane Lewis and Carol McNaughton Nicholls Ethics of Qualitative Research - Stephen Webster, Jane Lewis and Ashley Brown Designing and Selecting Samples - Jane Ritchie, Jane Lewis, Gilliam Elam, Rosalind Tennant and Nilufer Rahim Designing Fieldwork - Sue Arthur, Martin Mitchell, Jane Lewis and Carol McNaughton Nicholls In-depth Interviews - Alice Yeo, Robin Legard, Jill Keegan, Kit Ward, Carol McNaughton Nicholls and Jane Lewis Focus Groups - Helen Finch, Jane Lewis, and Caroline Turley Observation - Carol McNaughton Nicholls, Lisa Mills and Mehul Kotecha Analysis: Principles and Processes - Liz Spencer, Jane Ritchie, Rachel Ormston, William O'Connor and Matt Barnard Traditions and approaches Analysis in practice - Liz Spencer, Jane Ritchie, William O'Connor, Gareth Morrell and Rachel Ormston Generalisability Writing up qualitative Research - Clarissa White, Kandy Woodfield, Jane Ritchie and Rachel Ormston

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Qualitative Research Practice: A Guide for Social Science Students and Researchers

Background: Influential studies have cast doubt on the validity of retrospective reports by adults of their own adverse experiences in childhood. Accordingly, many researchers view retrospective reports with scepticism.

Method:  A computer-based search, supplemented by hand searches, was used to identify studies reported between 1980 and 2001 in which there was a quantified assessment of the validity of retrospective recall of sexual abuse, physical abuse, physical/emotional neglect or family discord, using samples of at least 40. Validity was assessed by means of comparisons with contemporaneous, prospectively obtained, court or clinic or research records; by agreement between retrospective reports of two siblings; and by the examination of possible bias with respect to differences between retrospective and prospective reports in their correlates and consequences. Medium- to long-term reliability of retrospective recall was determined from studies in which the test–retest period extended over at least 6 months.

Results:  Retrospective reports in adulthood of major adverse experiences in childhood, even when these are of a kind that allow reasonable operationalisation, involve a substantial rate of false negatives, and substantial measurement error. On the other hand, although less easily quantified, false positive reports are probably rare. Several studies have shown some bias in retrospective reports. However, such bias is not sufficiently great to invalidate retrospective case-control studies of major adversities of an easily defined kind. Nevertheless, the findings suggest that little weight can be placed on the retrospective reports of details of early experiences or on reports of experiences that rely heavily on judgement or interpretation.

Conclusion:  Retrospective studies have a worthwhile place in research, but further research is needed to examine possible biases in reporting.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.00218.x

Validity of adult retrospective reports of adverse childhood experiences: review of the evidence.

The contention of this paper is that the claim of compatibility and the call for cooperation between quantitative and qualitative inquiry cannot be sustained. Moreover, these claims have the unfortunate effect of closing down an important conversation. To elaborate these points, this paper briefly reviews the transition from conflict to cooperation between the two perspectives and then notes how compatibility is based on a confusion over two different definitions of method. Finally, the discussion focuses on why this conversation, because it invokes issues crucial to our understanding of who we are and what we do as inquirers, must be reinvigorated.

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Closing Down the Conversation: The End of the Quantitative-Qualitative Debate Among Educational Inquirers

Reliability, validity, generalisability and objectivity are fundamental concerns for quantitative researchers. For qualitative research, however, the role of these dimensions is blurred. Some researchers argue that these dimensions are not applicable to qualitative research and a qualitative researcher’s tool chest should be geared towards trustworthiness and encompass issues such as credibility, dependability, transferability and confirmability.


This paper advocates the use of formalised and software-based procedures for the analysis and interpretation of qualitative interview data. It is argued that International Business research, with a focus on international datasets, equivalence issues, multiple research environments and multiple researchers, will benefit from formalisation. The use of software programmes is deemed to help to substantiate the analysis and interpretation of textual interview data.

/pdf/enhancing-the-trustworthiness-of-qualitative-research-in-4ic5zy4px7.pdf

Enhancing the Trustworthiness of Qualitative Research in International Business

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this research was to determine if adults can provide a true rating of their own childhood and current symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).METHOD: The authors conducted two studies. In study 1, 50 adult subjects completed a questionnaire assessing their ADHD symptoms in childhood. In addition, a parent of each subject completed a questionnaire rating the subject’s childhood ADHD symptoms. In study 2, 100 adult subjects completed a questionnaire rating their own current ADHD symptoms. The subject’s partner also completed a questionnaire rating the subject’s current ADHD symptoms. The correlation between subject and observer ratings was measured in each study. Inattentive symptoms, hyperactive-impulsive symptoms, and total symptoms were analyzed.RESULTS: Good correlations were found between subject and observer scores in both studies.CONCLUSIONS: The diagnosis of ADHD in adults relies on an accurate recall of childhood behavior and an accurate account of curr...

https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1176/appi.ajp.157.7.1156

Use of Self-Ratings in the Assessment of Symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Adults

Problems of reliability and validity.

Sources of order in the maternal behavior of animals.

In a previous report we have presented data on the accuracy with which parents can report significant aspects of their child's development after a lapse of time (Robbins, 1963). The same question has also been studied by a number of other investigators (Goddard, Broder, and Wenar, 1961; Haggard, Brekstad, and Skard, 1960; MacFarlane, 1938; Wenar and Coulter, 19(2). The consistent finding in these reports of significant degrees of distortion uf memory as characteristic of the parental recall of developmental facts in normal children led us to wonder whether equally great or greater distortions of memory exist in the parental reports of development of behaviorally disturbed children. The present paper reports our findings on the types of distortion in recall made by parents of children referred for psychiatric evaluation because of parental concern that significant degrees of behavioral abnormality existed in their children. This study takes place against a background of work in developmental psychology and child psychiatry that indicates an increasing recognition that the fuller understanding of the origins, development, and course of behavioral disturbances in children requires

Herbert G. Birch

Papers

Problems of reliability and validity.

Sources of order in the maternal behavior of animals.

Distortions in developmental reporting made by parents of behaviorally disturbed children

Behavior problems revisited

Temperament and Behavior Disorders in Children. New York (New York University Press) 1968.