Qualitative Rigor
The trustworthiness of qualitative research, commonly judged by credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability.
Qualitative rigor refers to the trustworthiness of qualitative research. Because standards like statistical validity do not transfer directly, qualitative researchers commonly use parallel criteria: credibility (findings ring true), transferability (readers can judge relevance to other settings), dependability (the process is consistent and documented), and confirmability (interpretations are grounded in data). Strategies for achieving these include triangulation, member checking, thick description, audit trails, negative case analysis, and reflexivity.
In a thesis, rigor must be demonstrated, not asserted. Choose a small set of strategies that fit your design, apply them throughout the project, and report them concretely in the methodology chapter. Examiners look for evidence such as memos, coded extracts, and documented decisions rather than a paragraph that simply names the criteria.
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