Help talk:Navigation

Skin customizations
Some of the contents on this page needs to be rewritten to reflect that skin customisations might alter the location or other aspects of the appearance of, e.g. the sidebar, the personal (user) toolbar, etc. I recommend introducing these elements by name, and then stating that the default skin used in MediaWiki sites X in one location, Y in another, but warns that use of a different skin can cause this to change. robchurch | talk 04:48, 22 November 2006 (UTC).

Link colors
Is it mentioned anywhere that (if the default skin is used) blue links indicate an article is available and red links indicate an article does not exist yet? -- oKto siTe -  talk  19:19, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Localsettings.php
The links to the old LocalSettings.php page on LocalSettings.php should now be changed to mw:Manual:LocalSettings.php, and as the page is protected. I simply can't do it. - Foxhill 03:15, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

Just what is the old LocalSettings.php page about? --Ravuni 11:58, 13 September

User Links
Can I add a new link to the User Links in my own wiki? Black Rose 06:37, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

The text says

"edit (may be view source if anonymous editing is enabled, the page is in the MediaWiki namespace or the page is protected)"

Shouldn't it be "...anonymous editing is disabled..."? hello test from outsider ....???

It doesn't work!!!
I can't create my own SideBar ???? ... I modified the MediaWiki:SideBar as written in the guide but nothing changes!!!


 * It is named Mediawiki:Sidebar and not Mediawiki:SideBar. --213.214.18.64 11:04, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

Editing the Toolbox
How can I add a simple Link to the Toolbox? --213.214.18.64 11:05, 24 July 2007 (UTC)


 * It's not possible to customise the toolbox through a message at this time; items in this list are generated based on the page context, so it's not too reliable to slurp random links in. robchurch | talk 17:11, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

Feeds in Toolbox
Hi, I'm changing the style of my wiki, but somehow the feeds(rss, Atom) are messed up in my toolbox and i don't know why... do i fix it via main.css°? has anybody an idea!? greets Moonlight 08:39, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Navigation in lowercase
Since a few days my own wiki is completely lowercase. that means the navigation on the left and the navigation on the top is no more the way it used to be. this also effects the search. the search does not differentiate between FooBar, Foobar and foobar. What did i customize (accidently) and how can i restore this?

kind regards TurboKanne, 15. February 2008, 18:20

Jumptonavigation and Jumptosearch - Getting rid of them, please...
Because I've spent several hours looking and still haven't found the answer, I am doing everything I can to withhold my seething criticisms of how difficult it is to find support at MediaWiki for such simply configuration and customization steps such as relocating specific portlets by name and altering default placeholders from the initial install.

Okay, here's my simple question: After you install MediaWiki, every page comes with a "Jump to: navigation, search" header on every single article you create.

I would like to delete it. How? Please and thank you.

As a matter of interest, should you choose to defend the ease of navigation around MediaWiki, I would challenge you to find the answer to my question in less than ten searches without prior knowledge of where it is located. You'd think browsing every result of the word "jump" might do it, but nope. And here I am. --Randall00 22:31, 24 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Set
 * Alternatively, if you need more flexibility, open /skins/MonoBook.php and edit the code as needed (searching for "jump" in the file will get you to the spot you want). There might also be a way to do this using CSS.


 * Finding the code-hacking solution was pretty simple once I figured out what you were referring to (I hadn't really noticed those invisible accessibility divs before), although finding the simpler, variable-setting solution took a bit of puzzling and Googling. (Most of my "searches" were in the code and on Google; in a bit of foolishness on my part, I didn't actually search for "jump" on here until after I wrote the rest of this: I then found this page as the ninth result of the search.)


 * Admittedly, the documentation here tends not always to give a step-by-step walkthrough (walkthroughs can have problems of their own, of course), and isn't always able to predict what visitors are really looking for (no mean feat when it comes to people looking to make customizations!), but if you want to change the layout of your wiki, you should be prepared to go into the skin files (or be familiar with CSS, which I am not very). (If you think that there should be an easier way, then this is a case of your needs not coinciding with the developers' goals.)


 * I hope that your tone is the result of genuine frustration and not an intentional provocation. We're all doing our best here. :) —Emufarmers(T 02:54, 25 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Hey, thanks a lot; that's by and large the most polite and helpful response I've had here! I apologize for the overbearing tone, it's just that I've become quite jaded when it comes to expecting anything useful out of "help" sections in almost any administrative internet environment.


 * I eventually did actually find the solution that you're referring to, however it still doesn't work and I suppose more investigation will be required on my end to figure that part out. --Randall00 18:13, 25 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Hrmm...any known reason why it wouldn't work if I added  to LocalSettings.php? I even changed DefaultSettings.php to see if that would work and I'm still getting those jumpto links. --Randall00 19:21, 25 March 2008 (UTC)


 * $wgDefaultUserOptions changes the default settings for new accounts (and for people who haven't logged in); existing accounts will retain the preferences they were created with unless changed manually. You might be able to change all existing users' preferences with the userOptions.php maintenance script.  Also, keep in mind that users will still be able to restore the jump links through their preferences (though there are no doubt ways to prevent that too, if you wish). —Emufarmers(T 01:06, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

Toolbox Links
Everywhere i've read it says that the links can not be customized. However I ran an update the the latest Mediawiki version, and the Upload file link is sending it to wikipedia!! and not not my own. How did this happen and what do i do to fix it (without starting over).

Resolution..
Link was being modified by page: Mediawiki:common.js //Fix "Upload file" link when using the secure proxy //This is a workaround that can be removed when bug 10843 is fixed addOnloadHook(function {   if (document.getElementById("t-upload"))    {        document.getElementById("t-upload").getElementsByTagName("a")[0].href = wgArticlePath.replace("$1", "wikipedia:Upload")    } }) change "wikipedia:Upload" to "Special:Upload"

Navigatability
I think that in articles like this:

Comparison_of_BitTorrent_Clients

or this:

Comparison_of_file_sharing_applications

people should have an interface to filter applications that meet certain criteria that they choose.

512upload 21:09, 13 November 2008 (UTC)


 * You're asking about this in the wrong place really. Try wikipedia:Wikipedia:Bug reports and feature requests -- Harry Wood 15:24, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

Sidebar Navigation section needs updating.
In the admin section, it tells the wiki admin to change MediaWiki:Mainpage-text to change the link name of the main page. in the most recent release that page is MediaWiki:Mainpage-description --67.241.177.245 15:52, 28 December 2008

ESXi 3.5 - resizing disk of VM
1.Remove all snapshots from your VM.

2.From the command line run: vmkfstools -X 256g /vmfs/volumes/4ac531c0-8e095fcb-dee5-00215e7116c0/QubeServer.test/QubeServer.vmdk

3.Boot the VM from GParted Live CD and resize the partition.

It will not allow you to create a drive bigger than 256GB:

vmkfstools -X 257g /vmfs/volumes/4ac531c0-8e095fcb-dee5-00215e7116c0/QubeServer/QubeServer.vmdk

Failed to extend disk : The destination file system does not support large files (12).

WIKI REQUIREMENTS
The minimum system requirements to install and run this WIKI should be posted here.

Draft tab?
What's up with the draft tab? I don't see any documentation for it. Isn't that against the whole wiki idea? --Robinson Weijman 11:49, 11 March 2010 (UTC)

Screenshots are outdated
With Vector as new default skin, the old Monobook screenshots are outdated. --Subfader 21:58, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

interpretive research
Chapter 12 Interpretive Research The last chapter introduced interpretive research, or more specifically, interpretive case research. This chapter will explore other kinds of interpretive research. Recall that positivist or deductive methods, such as laboratory experiments and survey research, are those that are specifically intended for theory (or hypotheses) testing, while interpretive or inductive methods, such as action research and ethnography, are intended for theory building. Unlike a positivist method, where the researcher starts with a theory and tests theoretical postulates using empirical data, in interpretive methods, the researcher starts with data and tries to derive a theory about the phenomenon of interest from the observed data.

The term “interpretive research” is often used loosely and synonymously with “qualitative research”, although the two concepts are quite different. Interpretive research is a research paradigm (see Chapter 3) that is based on the assumption that social reality is not singular or objective, but is rather shaped by human experiences and social contexts (ontology), and is therefore best studied within its socio-historic context by reconciling the subjective interpretations of its various participants (epistemology). Because interpretive researchers view social reality as being embedded within and impossible to abstract from their social settings, they “interpret” the reality though a “sense-making” process rather than a hypothesis testing process. This is in contrast to the positivist or functionalist paradigm that assumes that the reality is relatively independent of the context, can be abstracted from their contexts, and studied in a decomposable functional manner using objective techniques such as standardized measures. Whether a researcher should pursue interpretive or positivist research depends on paradigmatic considerations about the nature of the phenomenon under consideration and the best way to study it.

However, qualitative versus quantitative research refers to empirical or data -oriented considerations about the type of data to collect and how to analyze them. Qualitative research relies mostly on non-numeric data, such as interviews and observations, in contrast to quantitative research which employs numeric data such as scores and metrics. Hence, qualitative research is not amenable to statistical procedures such as regression analysis, but is coded using techniques like content analysis. Sometimes, coded qualitative data is tabulated quantitatively as frequencies of codes, but this data is not statistically analyzed. Many puritan interpretive researchers reject this coding approach as a futile effort to seek consensus or objectivity in a social phenomenon which is essentially subjective.

Although interpretive research tends to rely heavily on qualitative data, quantitative data may add more precision and clearer understanding of the phenomenon of interest than qualitative data. For example, Eisenhardt (1989), in her interpretive study of decision making n high-velocity firms (discussed in the previous chapter on case research), collected numeric data on how long it took each firm to make certain strategic decisions (which ranged from 1.5 months to 18 months), how many decision alternatives were considered for each decision, and surveyed her respondents to capture their perceptions of organizational conflict. Such numeric data helped her clearly distinguish the high-speed decision making firms from the low-speed decision makers, without relying on respondents’ subjective perceptions, which then allowed her to examine the number of decision alternatives considered by and the extent of conflict in high-speed versus low-speed firms. Interpretive research should attempt to collect both qualitative and quantitative data pertaining to their phenomenon of interest, and so should positivist research as well. Joint use of qualitative and quantitative data, often called “mixed-mode designs”, may lead to unique insights and are highly prized in the scientific community.

Interpretive research has its roots in anthropology, sociology, psychology, linguistics, and semiotics, and has been available since the early 19 th century, long before positivist techniques were developed. Many positivist researchers view interpretive research as erroneous and biased, given the subjective nature of the qualitative data collection and interpretation process employed in such research. However, the failure of many positivist techniques to generate interesting insights or new knowledge have resulted in a resurgence of interest in interpretive research since the 1970’s, albeit with exacting methods and stringent criteria to ensure the reliability and validity of interpretive inferences.

Distinctions from Positivist Research In addition to fundamental paradigmatic differences in ontological and epistemological assumptions discussed above, interpretive and positivist research differ in several other ways. First, interpretive research employs a theoretical sampling strategy, where study sites, respondents, or cases are selected based on theoretical considerations such as whether they fit the phenomenon being studied (e.g., sustainable practices can only be studied in organizations that have implemented sustainable practices), whether they possess certain characteristics that make them uniquely suited for the study (e.g., a study of the drivers of firm innovations should include some firms that are high innovators and some that are low innovators, in order to draw contrast between these firms), and so forth. In contrast, positivist research employs random sampling (or a variation of this technique), where cases are chosen randomly from a population, for purposes of generalizability. Hence, convenience samples and small samples are considered acceptable in interpretive research as long as they fit the nature and purpose of the study, but not in positivist research.

Second, the role of the researcher receives critical attention in interpretive research. In some methods such as ethnography, action research, and participant observation, the researcher is considered part of the social phenomenon, and her specific role and involvement in the research process must be made clear during data analysis. In other methods, such as case research, the researcher must take a “neutral” or unbiased stance during the data collection and analysis processes, and ensure that her personal biases or preconceptions does not taint the nature of subjective inferences derived from interpretive research. In positivist research, however, the researcher is considered to be external to and independent of the research context and is not presumed to bias the data collection and analytic procedures.

Third, interpretive analysis is holistic and contextual, rather than being reductionist and isolationist. Interpretive interpretations tend to focus on language, signs, and meanings from the perspective of the participants involved in the social phenomenon, in contrast to statistical techniques that are employed heavily in positivist research. Rigor in interpretive research is viewed in terms of systematic and transparent approaches for data collection and analysis rather than statistical benchmarks for construct validity or significance testing.

Lastly, data collection and analysis can proceed simultaneously and iteratively in interpretive research. For instance, the researcher may conduct an interview and code it before proceeding to the next interview. Simultaneous analysis helps the researcher correct potential flaws in the interview protocol or adjust it to capture the phenomenon of interest better. The researcher may even change her original research question if she realizes that her original research questions are unlikely to generate new or useful insights. This is a valuable but often understated benefit of interpretive research, and is not available in positivist research, where the research project cannot be modified or changed once the data collection has started without redoing the entire project from the start.

Benefits and Challenges of Interpretive Research Interpretive research has several unique advantages. First, they are well-suited for exploring hidden reasons behind complex, interrelated, or multifaceted social processes, such as inter-firm relationships or inter-office politics, where quantitative evidence may be biased, inaccurate, or otherwise difficult to obtain. Second, they are often helpful for theory construction in areas with no or insufficient a priori theory. Third, they are also appropriate for studying context-specific, unique, or idiosyncratic events or processes. Fourth, interpretive research can also help uncover interesting and relevant research questions and issues for follow-up research.

At the same time, interpretive research also has its own set of challenges. First, this type of research tends to be more time and resource intensive than positivist research in data collection and analytic efforts. Too little data can lead to false or premature assumptions, while too much data may not be effectively processed by the researcher. Second, interpretive research requires well-trained researchers who are capable of seeing and interpreting complex social phenomenon from the perspectives of the embedded participants and reconciling the diverse perspectives of these participants, without injecting their personal biases or preconceptions into their inferences. Third, all participants or data sources may not be equally credible, unbiased, or knowledgeable about the phenomenon of interest, or may have undisclosed political agendas, which may lead to misleading or false impressions. Inadequate trust between participants and researcher may hinder full and honest self-representation by participants, and such trust building takes time. It is the job of the interpretive researcher to

“see through the smoke” (hidden or biased agendas) and understand the true nature of the problem. Fourth, given the heavily contextualized nature of inferences drawn from interpretive research, such inferences do not lend themselves well to replicability or generalizability. Finally, interpretive research may sometimes fail to answer the research questions of interest or predict future behaviors.

Characteristics of Interpretive Research All interpretive research must adhere to a common set of principles, as described below.

Naturalistic inquiry: Social phenomena must be studied within their natural setting. Because interpretive research assumes that social phenomena are situated within and cannot be isolated from their social context, interpretations of such phenomena must be grounded within their socio-historical context. This implies that contextual variables should be observed and considered in seeking explanations of a phenomenon of interest, even though context sensitivity may limit the generalizability of inferences.

Researcher as instrument: Researchers are often embedded within the social context that they are studying, and are considered part of the data collection instrument in that they must use their observational skills, their trust with the participants, and their ability to extract the correct information. Further, their personal insights, knowledge, and experiences of the social context is critical to accurately interpreting the phenomenon of interest. At the same time, researchers must be fully aware of their personal biases and preconceptions, and not let such biases interfere with their ability to present a fair and accurate portrayal of the phenomenon.

Interpretive analysis: Observations must be interpreted through the eyes of the participants embedded in the social context. Interpretation must occur at two levels. The first level involves viewing or experiencing the phenomenon from the subjective perspectives of the social participants. The second level is to understand the meaning of the participants’ experiences in order to provide a “thick description” or a rich narrative story of the phenomenon of interest that can communicate why participants acted the way they did.

Use of expressive language: Documenting the verbal and non-verbal language of participants and the analysis of such language are integral components of interpretive analysis. The study must ensure that the story is viewed through the eyes of a person, and not a machine, and must depict the emotions and experiences of that person, so that readers can understand and relate to that person. Use of imageries, metaphors, sarcasm, and other figures of speech is very common in interpretive analysis.

Temporal nature: Interpretive research is often not concerned with searching for specific answers, but with understanding or “making sense of” a dynamic social process as it unfolds over time. Hence, such research requires an immersive involvement of the researcher at the study site for an extended period of time in order to capture the entire evolution of the phenomenon of interest.

Hermeneutic circle: Interpretive interpretation is an iterative process of moving back and forth from pieces of observations (text) to the entirety of the social phenomenon (context) to reconcile their apparent discord and to construct a theory that is consistent with the diverse subjective viewpoints and experiences of the embedded participants. Such iterations between the understanding/meaning of a phenomenon and observations must continue until “theoretical saturation” is reached, whereby any additional iteration does not yield any more insight into the phenomenon of interest.

Interpretive Data Collection Data is collected in interpretive research using a variety of techniques. The most frequently used technique is interviews (face-to-face, telephone, or focus groups). Interview types and strategies are discussed in detail in a previous chapter on survey research. A second technique is observation. Observational techniques include direct observation, where the researcher is a neutral and passive external observer and is not involved in the phenomenon of interest (as in case research), and participant observation , where the researcher is an active participant in the phenomenon and her inputs or mere presence influence the phenomenon being studied (as in action research). A third technique is documentation, where external and internal documents, such as memos, electronic mails, annual reports, financial statements, newspaper articles, websites, may be used to cast further insight into the phenomenon of interest or to corroborate other forms of evidence.

Interpretive Research Designs Case research. As discussed in the previous chapter, case research is an intensive longitudinal study of a phenomenon at one or more research sites for the purpose of deriving detailed, contextualized inferences and understanding the dynamic process underlying a phenomenon of interest. Case research is a unique research design in that it can be used in an interpretive manner to build theories or in a positivist manner to test theories. The previous chapter on case research discusses both techniques in depth and provides illustrative exemplars. Furthermore, the case researcher is a neutral observer (direct observation) in the social setting rather than an active participant (participant observation). As with any other interpretive approach, drawing meaningful inferences from case research depends heavily on the observational skills and integrative abilities of the researcher.

Action research. Action research is a qualitative but positivist research design aimed at theory testing rather than theory building (discussed in this chapter due to lack of a proper space). This is an interactive design that assumes that complex social phenomena are best understood by introducing changes, interventions, or “actions” into those phenomena and observing the outcomes of such actions on the phenomena of interest. In this method, the researcher is usually a consultant or an organizational member embedded into a social context (such as an organization), who initiates an action in response to a social problem, and examines how her action influences the phenomenon while also learning and generating insights about the relationship between the action and the phenomenon. Examples of actions may include organizational change programs, such as the introduction of new organizational processes, procedures, people, or technology or replacement of old ones, initiated with the goal of improving an organization’s performance or profitability in its business environment. The researcher’s choice of actions must be based on theory, which should explain why and how such actions may bring forth the desired social change. The theory is validated by the extent to which the chosen action is successful in remedying the targeted problem. Simultaneous problem solving and insight generation is the central feature that distinguishes action research from other research methods (which may not involve problem solving) and from consulting (which may not involve insight generation). Hence, action research is an excellent method for bridging research and practice.

There are several variations of the action research method. The most popular of these method is the participatory action research, designed by Susman and Evered (1978) [13]. This method follows an action research cycle consisting of five phases: (1) diagnosing, (2) action planning, (3) action taking, (4) evaluating, and (5) learning (see Figure 10.1). Diagnosing involves identifying and defining a problem in its social context. Action planning involves identifying and evaluating alternative solutions to the problem, and deciding on a future course of action (based on theoretical rationale). Action taking is the implementation of the planned course of action. The evaluation stage examines the extent to which the initiated action is successful in resolving the original problem, i.e., whether theorized effects are indeed realized in practice. In the learning phase, the experiences and feedback from action evaluation are used to generate insights about the problem and suggest future modifications or improvements to the action. Based on action evaluation and learning, the action may be modified or adjusted to address the problem better, and the action research cycle is repeated with the modified action sequence. It is suggested that the entire action research cycle be traversed at least twice so that learning from the first cycle can be implemented in the second cycle. The primary mode of data collection is participant observation, although other techniques such as interviews and documentary evidence may be used to corroborate the researcher’s observations.

Figure 10.1. Action research cycle.

Ethnography. The ethnographic research method, derived largely from the field of anthropology, emphasizes studying a phenomenon within the context of its culture. The researcher must be deeply immersed in the social culture over an extended period of time (usually 8 months to 2 years) and should engage, observe, and record the daily life of the studied culture and its social participants within their natural setting. The primary mode of data collection is participant observation, and data analysis involves a “sense-making” approach. In addition, the researcher must take extensive field notes, and narrate her experience in descriptive detail so that readers may experience the same culture as the researcher. In this method, the researcher has two roles: rely on her unique knowledge and engagement to generate insights (theory), and convince the scientific community of the trans-situational nature of the studied phenomenon.

The classic example of ethnographic research is Jane Goodall’s study of primate behaviors, where she lived with chimpanzees in their natural habitat at Gombe National Park in Tanzania, observed their behaviors, interacted with them, and shared their lives. During that process, she learnt and chronicled how chimpanzees seek food and shelter, how they socialize with each other, their communication patterns, their mating behaviors, and so forth. A more contemporary example of ethnographic research is Myra Bluebond-Langer’s (1996) [14] study of decision making in families with children suffering from life-threatening illnesses, and the physical, psychological, environmental, ethical, legal, and cultural issues that influence such decision-making. The researcher followed the experiences of approximately 80 children with incurable illnesses and their families for a period of over two years. Data collection involved participant observation and formal/informal conversations with children, their parents and relatives, and health care providers to document their lived experience.

Phenomenology. Phenomenology is a research method that emphasizes the study of conscious experiences as a way of understanding the reality around us. It is based on the ideas of German philosopher Edmund Husserl in the early 20 th century who believed that human experience is the source of all knowledge. Phenomenology is concerned with the systematic reflection and analysis of phenomena associated with conscious experiences, such as human judgment, perceptions, and actions, with the goal of (1) appreciating and describing social reality from the diverse subjective perspectives of the participants involved, and (2) understanding the symbolic meanings (“deep structure”) underlying these subjective experiences. Phenomenological inquiry requires that researchers eliminate any prior assumptions and personal biases, empathize with the participant’s situation, and tune into existential dimensions of that situation, so that they can fully understand the deep structures that drives the conscious thinking, feeling, and behavior of the studied participants.

Figure 10.2. The existential phenomenological research method.

Some researchers view phenomenology as a philosophy rather than as a research method. In response to this criticism, Giorgi and Giorgi (2003) [15] developed an existential phenomenological research method to guide studies in this area. This method, illustrated in Figure 10.2, can be grouped into data collection and data analysis phases. In the data collection phase, participants embedded in a social phenomenon are interviewed to capture their subjective experiences and perspectives regarding the phenomenon under investigation.

Examples of questions that may be asked include “can you describe a typical day” or “can you describe that particular incident in more detail?” These interviews are recorded and transcribed for further analysis. During data analysis, the researcher reads the transcripts to:

(1) get a sense of the whole, and (2) establish “units of significance” that can faithfully represent participants’ subjective experiences. Examples of such units of significance are concepts such as “felt space” and “felt time,” which are then used to document participants’ psychological experiences. For instance, did participants feel safe, free, trapped, or joyous when experiencing a phenomenon (“felt-space”)? Did they feel that their experience was pressured, slow, or discontinuous (“felt-time”)? Phenomenological analysis should take into account the participants’ temporal landscape (i.e., their sense of past, present, and future), and the researcher must transpose herself in an imaginary sense in the participant’s situati on (i.e., temporarily live the participant’s life). The participants’ lived experience is described in form of a narrative or using emergent themes. The analysis then delves into these themes to identify multiple layers of meaning while retaining the fragility and ambiguity of subjects’ lived experiences.

Rigor in Interpretive Research While positivist research employs a “reductionist” approach by simplifying social reality into parsimonious theories and laws, interpretive research attempts to interpret social reality through the subjective viewpoints of the embedded participants within the context where the reality is situated. These interpretations are heavily contextualized, and are naturally less generalizable to other contexts. However, because interpretive analysis is subjective and sensitive to the experiences and insight of the embedded researcher, it is often considered less rigorous by many positivist (functionalist) researchers. Because interpretive research is based on different set of ontological and epistemological assumptions about social phenomenon than positivist research, the positivist notions of rigor, such as reliability, internal validity, and generalizability, do not apply in a similar manner. However, Lincoln and Guba (1985) [16] provide an alternative set of criteria that can be used to judge the rigor of interpretive research.

Dependability. Interpretive research can be viewed as dependable or authentic if two researchers assessing the same phenomenon using the same set of evidence independently arrive at the same conclusions or the same researcher observing the same or a similar phenomenon at different times arrives at similar conclusions. This concept is similar to that of reliability in positivist research, with agreement between two independent researchers being similar to the notion of inter-rater reliability, and agreement between two observations of the same phenomenon by the same researcher akin to test -retest reliability. To ensure dependability, interpretive researchers must provide adequate details about their phenomenon of interest and the social context in which it is embedded so as to allow readers to independently authenticate their interpretive inferences.

Credibility. Interpretive research can be considered credible if readers find its inferences to be believable. This concept is akin to that of internal validity in functionalistic research. The credibility of interpretive research can be improved by providing evidence of the researcher’s extended engagement in the field, by demonstrating data triangulation across subjects or data collection techniques, and by maintaining meticulous data management and analytic procedures, such as verbatim transcription of interviews, accurate records of contacts and interviews, and clear notes on theoretical and methodological decisions, that can allow an independent audit of data collection and analysis if needed.

Confirmability. Confirmability refers to the extent to which the findings reported in interpretive research can be independently confirmed by others (typically, participants). This is similar to the notion of objectivity in functionalistic research. Since interpretive research rejects the notion of an objective reality, confirmability is demonstrated in terms of “inter-subjectivity”, i.e., if the study’s participants agree with the inferences derived by the researcher. For instance, if a study’s participants generally agree with the inferences drawn by a researcher about a phenomenon of interest (based on a review of the research paper or report), then the findings can be viewed as confirmable.

Transferability. Transferability in interpretive research refers to the extent to which the findings can be generalized to other settings. This idea is similar to that of external validity in functionalistic research. The researcher must provide rich, detailed descriptions of the research context (“thick description”) and thoroughly describe the structures, assumptions, and processes revealed from the data so that readers can independently assess whether and to what extent are the reported findings transferable to other settings.

[13] Susman, G.I. and Evered, R.D. (1978). “An Assessment of the Scientific Merits of Action Research,”

Administrative Science Quarterly, (23), 582-603.

[14] Bluebond-Langer, M. (1996). In the Shadow of Illness: Parents and Siblings of the Chronically Ill Child. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

[15] Giorgi, A and Giorgi, B (2003) Phenomenology. In J A Smith (ed.) Qualitative Psychology: A Practical Guide to Research Methods. London: Sage Publications.

[16] Lincoln, Y. S., and Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic Inquiry. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.

LICENSES AND ATTRIBUTIONS Previous Next