A presentation on some key research concepts, providing students with some concepts to develop critical thinking about our own and others' research.

1. Credibility, Validity and
Transferability
Research Methods for Counselling

2. Aims
By the end of this session you will be able to
describe the terms:
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•
•
•
•
Credibility
Validity
Reliability
Transferability
Triangulation

4. Credibility
• Is the research trustworthy?
• Is the research believable?
• Are the researcher's conclusions supported by
the research findings?

5. What Makes Research Credible?
1. Well defined research question or well defined
aims
2. Consistent and appropriate methodology
3. Systematic and comprehensive literature review
4. Sound ethical standards (including objectivity)
5. Appropriate data collection and analysis
6. Evidence based discussion and conclusion

7. Validity
• Is the way in which the research is designed
capable of answering the research question?
• Does it measure or test the research topic as
intended?
• Validity refers to the degree to which a study
accurately reflects or assesses the specific
concept that the researcher is attempting to
measure
Sometimes called internal validity

9. Reliability
• Is the research repeatable?
• If the research is repeated and consistently yields
the same results we can say the research design
is reliable.
• While reliability is concerned with the accuracy of
the actual measuring instrument or
procedure, validity is concerned with the study's
success at measuring what the researcher set out
to measure.

10. Transferability
• Is the research applicable to other contexts
and situations?
• Can the results be generalised?
• Can the findings be applied beyond the
boundaries of the research?
This is sometimes called external validity

12. Please complete the
questions on your work
sheet
Hand it to your tutor for
checking and feedback

13. Terminology
Credibility – is the research trustworthy?
Validity – is the research design capable of
answering the question?
Reliability – is the research repeatable with
consistent results
Transferability – can the findings be used in
another context?
Triangulation – involves examining the topic
with different methods

14. Conclusions
We have explored the meanings of these terms:
•
•
•
•
•
Credibility
Validity
Reliability
Transferability
Triangulation