EDEA 604 Blog 6: Identifying and Dealing with Validity Threats

I still can't get my head around validity.  Although I know that it is another important role in research, it's another challenging part of the research.  All I look at is the root word - "valid."  How valid is your research?  I'm not sure how else I could really understand validity, besides this.

The two main validity threats are researcher bias and reactivity.  Both of these can have serious impact on the research and on the individuals involved.  Honestly, I kinda don't like the word researcher bias.  However, I do believe this may be a huge threat to my research.  Researcher bias must be and should be clearly stated in the research proposal.  A researcher's bias are things the research believes or values in, possibly things that are maybe ethical.  It may definitely shape the way I put the research together and interpret the findings and conclusion.

Reactivity I think will possibly the biggest threat.  I think my influence may be based on the relationship between one another, and therefore, sets the environment and the individual.  I myself, always seems nervous in asking questions, because as a Hawaiian, we do not want to be nīele (inquisitive or curious) or seem mahaʻoi (bold or impertinent).  When conducting interviews, in a way, I believe validity depends on the relationship.  I feel in order to deal with reactivity is to ensure that the relationship is mutual and open, and that there isn't anything negative to alter the environment and individuals.

I feel that obtaining rich data, respondent validation, searching for discrepancies and triangulation will help to ensure that the validity of my data are correct and true to the best possible.  In addition to validity, there are other concepts like trustworthiness.  One that I believe will definitely need to take into consideration.  Usually, we take oral histories as they are.  Although, there will probably be two different versions of an oral history, how do we consider the trustworthiness?  Is it the trustworthiness of the person of of what the person said?