Problems of Reliability and Validity in Ethnographic Research

TLDR

Reliability and validity issues are well studied in quantitative research but have been inconsistently addressed by ethnographers. The article examines how ethnographers define and address reliability and validity, comparing these constructs to those in experimental design. The authors summarize and categorize threats to ethnographic credibility and outline strategies to enhance it across study design, data collection, analysis, and reporting. The review illustrates common strategies for mitigating contamination in educational ethnography.

Abstract

Although problems of reliability and validity have been explored thoroughly by experimenters and other quantitative researchers, their treatment by ethnographers has been sporadic and haphazard. This article analyzes these constructs as defined and addressed by ethnographers. Issues of reliability and validity in ethnographic design are compared to their counterparts in experimental design. Threats to the credibility of ethnographic research are summarized and categorized from field study methodology. Strategies intended to enhance credibility are incorporated throughout the investigative process: study design, data collection, data analysis, and presentation of findings. Common approaches to resolving various categories of contamination are illustrated from the current literature in educational ethnography.