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3.8.3 Trustworthiness of the study
Trustworthiness of a study means credibility and validity of qualitative research (Burns and
grove, 2005). In this study trustworthiness was ensured through credibility, dependability,
confirmability and transferability and these will be explained in detail below.
3.8.4 Credibility
According to Ulin et al., (2002), credibility is the extent to which the findings in the
interviews or focus groups are said to be accurate, sufficiently rich, grounded in, supported
by narrative data, and show a logical relationship to each other. Terre Blanche et al., (2006)
states that the participants’ views must be reflected as much as possible in the inferences and
conclusions drawn from qualitative research. Therefore, in this study, this was achieved
through comparisons between focus groups and through using a translator and a transcriber
who were familiar with both the English and IsiZulu language to establish similarities and
differences between groups. Above all, this was also achieved through triangulation with data
from home-based care coordinators, project managers and volunteer caregivers.
3.8.5 Dependability
According to Ulin et al., (2002) dependability is determined by the consistency of the
research process .The overall research questions in this study were considered to be clear and
logically connected to the research design and objectives. In terms of the data collection
process, the research questions were translated from English into IsiZulu. The questions were
asked in English/isiZulu during the interviews and in IsiZulu during focus group discussions
and later translated back into English; however this did not negatively affect the consistency
and dependability of the findings in this study.
3.8.6 Confirmability
Confirmability refers to whether or not the findings and conclusions of a study are true to the
research objectives instead of the values and biases of the researcher (Terre Blanche et al.,
2006). Although the researcher recognizes and documents his/her own role in the research
process, the distinction is maintained between personal values and those of the research
participants (Ulin et al., 2002). In this study, this was achieved through documentation and
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