Complete thesis - Murdoch University

Credibility Guba and Lincoln (1994) suggest prolonged participation, persistent observationand peer debriefing as strategies to address this criterion. These have been discussedabove. Triangulation and the collection of ‘primary’ data (ie data produced bythe participants themselves) have also been applied in this study in order to enhancethe credibility of the findingsTransferability comparison of the context of this study with other contexts is facilitatedby the inclusion of detailed descriptive data, and through rich description of the contextitself. This is provided as a background appendix (Appendix A) and throughdiscussion of the changing context at the commencement of the chapters discussing theinterventions (Chapters 6 to 8). Guba and Lincoln (1994) notes that transferability ofan Action Research account depends on the readers ‘seeing the setting’ for themselvesand identifying with it. The narrative approach taken in reporting this research is onestrategy for achieving thisDependability the stability of the data is enhanced through triangulation techniques andthe development of an ‘audit trail’ which describes each process undertake. The descriptionof research methods may be considered extensive, both in Chapter 5 as overallstrategy and in each chapter describing an Action Research cycle. There, what wasplanned as well as what eventuated are provided as a dense description of the strategyadoptedConfirmability triangulation is again a suggested strategy addressing this criterion. ‘Diary’entries to record ideas and reflections are also considered as addressing confirmability,with reflection and the process of double loop learning the most relevant here. EachAction Research cycle concludes with a reflection section which seeks to place theoutcomes of the intervention (and the interpretation of these) within the context of theresearch learning journey.By virtue of the nature of the research, the findings of this study are limited to the contextin which it was undertaken. However, in order to address concerns raised against ActionResearch (eg contingency, control and over-involvement (Orlikowski and Baroudi, 1991), discussedin Section 4.1), the following approaches are included within the research design, basedon the discussion of Kock et al (2000):• some elements of the study are longitudinal: findings from each cycle are examined insubsequent cycles, to see how well they hold, while some participants are tracked acrosssubsequent semesters. These act to expand the project scope, analogous to choosing awider ‘sample’ in statistical studies404