Philosophy of the Reliability of Qualitative Data and Interpretation

Authors : Mustafa Ergün

Pages : 124-139

View : 17 | Download : 8

Publication Date : 2016-06-01

Article Type : Research

Abstract :In educational research the data are mostly collected through the scales which are about the views, perceptions, attitudes of students, teachers or parents about a topic. However, there is a significant question about these data: How do these data represent true assumptions of the participants? In educational research the bias of the researchers affects the hypothesis and data collection process (it may refer to the view that all scholarship is ideological). Therefore, all data collection analysis should be reviewed. In educational research the data collected from textual and audio sources are regarded as having a single meaning and the resulting interpretation is carried out based on this assumption. In some cases different coders are used to improve the reliability of the study. In this attempts the consistency of coding is aimed (such as Miles/Huberman, Clippendorf Alpha). In linguistic and semiological studies it is assumed that there is intertextuality which means that each text is dependent on the previous texts and that language determines the perceptions, views and attitudes of individuals. However, texts are also influenced by historical, psychological and sociological factors. In educational research do researchers follow true information? It seems that pragmatic philosophy which argues that correctness is not absolute, but functional is still dominant in educational research. On the other hand, many people regard belief as one of the major criterion for correctness. The reliability of the study results about the views, attitudes and interests of individuals leads to the question of "do people produce truth?” In scientific research textual data are considered to have a single meaning. This assumption is valid for text mining and content analysis techniques. However, in order to reach true scientific information the data should be analysed through such techniques as hermeneutics, deconstruction and archeology of knowledge. This study deals with the role of these techniques in qualitative research design. The ultimate goal of scientific research is to capture truth and correction. Scientific knowledge is the one of which truth is commonly accepted and is consistent with the dominant paradigms. There are certain methods to gather such scientific knowledge. It has been accepted that research methods used in social science is different from those used in natural sciences. Cause-effect relationships observed in non-living beings cannot be valid for individuals. In social sciences the reactions of individuals are accepted to be searched for. Reactions have been considered to be affected by many distinct factors. In qualitative research data are gathered through observations and interviews. Answers by the study participants to scales are considered to reflect the true views of them. However, researchers may have doubt about these answers. Hermeneutics also contain such doubts which make it difficult to capture scientific knowledge. There is no absolute true information. Instead, there are different sense and interpretations of individuals, which is the basic premise of hermeneutics. It requires the use of different coders and different interpretations. Therefore, the data collected should be coded by different people and interpretations should be done by different individuals. In educational research survey questionnaires used as a data collection tool deal with the views of teachers. Instead, these tools provide us with the legal and correct answers based on the current regulations. We may study this case following Foucault’s "Archeology of Knowledge” technique and see that teachers should give such answers.Many argue that in qualitative research hermeneutics should be major basis. Everybody recognise the significance of interpretation in qualitative research, but the valid method for it has not been well-established.   The data gathered from social science and humanist studies should be discussed in relation to their benefits and use in developing solutions.
Keywords : educational research, data, coding, textual data, reliability, interpretation