Triangulation in qualitative research: evaluation of completeness and confirmation purposes.

The term triangulation has been applied to research strategies intended to serve two distinct purposes, confirmation and completeness. Many researchers who claim to have used a triangulated approach fail to provide evidence to show that their approach contributed to either confirmation or completeness of the data set. This paper reviews these distinct purposes and describes how triangulation of qualitative and quantitative methods was built into a study to achieve them. Analysis of data related to a single construct illustrates how data generated by qualitative and quantitative methods can provide both convergent validity and a broader understanding of one's subject matter.

[1]  L. Cronbach,et al.  Construct validity in psychological tests. , 1955, Psychological bulletin.

[2]  J. Varni,et al.  Children with chronic physical disorders: maternal reports of their psychological adjustment. , 1988, Journal of pediatric psychology.

[3]  A. Costello,et al.  Age differences in the reliability of the psychiatric interview of the child. , 1985, Child development.

[4]  K. Knafl,et al.  Family management style: concept analysis and development. , 1990, Journal of pediatric nursing.

[5]  Ellen Sullivan Mitcbell.  Multiple triangulation: a methodology for nursing science , 1986 .

[6]  G W Marsh.  Refining an emergent life‐style-change theory through matrix analysis , 1990, ANS. Advances in nursing science.

[7]  J. Haase,et al.  Reconciling Paradigm Assumptions of Qualitative and Quantitative Research , 1988, Western journal of nursing research.

[8]  N. Breslau,et al.  Psychological distress in mothers of disabled children. , 1982, American journal of diseases of children.

[9]  Patti Lather.  Issues of validity in openly ideological research: Between a rock and a soft place , 1986 .

[10]  P. Hinds,et al.  A triangulation of methods and paradigms to study nurse-given wellness care. , 1987, Nursing research.

[11]  J. Deatrick,et al.  Intensive Interviewing with Children and Adolescents , 1988, Western journal of nursing research.

[12]  A. Carter,et al.  Structural and qualitative aspects of social networks in families with young chronically ill children. , 1988, Journal of pediatric psychology.

[13]  K. Knafl,et al.  Triangulation in Qualitative Research: Issues of Conceptual Clarity and Purpose , 1991 .

[14]  R. Stein,et al.  A noncategorical approach to chronic childhood illness. , 1982, Public health reports.

[15]  E. Hauenstein.  The Experience of Distress in Parents of Chronically Ill Children: Potential or Likely Outcome? , 1990 .

[16]  J. Haase,et al.  Guidelines for integration of quantitative and qualitative approaches. , 1989, Nursing research.

[17]  C. Roberts,et al.  Assessing family functioning across three areas of relationships. , 1982, Nursing Research.

[18]  K. Knafl,et al.  Social competence of school-aged children with chronic illnesses. , 1992, Journal of pediatric nursing.

[19]  R. Moos,et al.  Psychosocial risk and resistance factors among children with chronic illness, healthy siblings, and healthy controls , 1987, Journal of abnormal child psychology.

[20]  L. Goodwin,et al.  Qualitative vs. quantitative research or qualitative and quantitative research? , 1984, Nursing research.