Triangulation and Dealing with The Realness of Qualitative Research

Krzysztof T. Konecki

doi:10.18778/1733-8077.4.3.02

Authors

Krzysztof T. Konecki Lodz University, Poland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.4.3.02

Keywords:

Triangulation, Field research, Qualitative methods, Sociology, Ethnography, Writing of ethnography, Ethnographic description, Definition of reality, Tribal rules, Generalized other

Abstract

This paper provides a sociologists’ reflection of a sociologist on qualitative field research. Reflections will include some methodological and epistemological considerations that are connected with field work, while building the realness of the description and conclusions, i.e. constructing the quality of qualitative research. The intellectual process of doing research will be characterized by analysis of:

description of investigated reality (tales of the field),
analytical process,
usage of commonsense research procedures (so called triangulation procedures), which are used in the field by the researcher and during analysis or writing a research report to adequately “re – present” researched reality.

The three above mentioned stages of representation of reality are interwoven to create one complex intellectual process, which is called “field research”. The quality of qualitative research is the intellectual process where some procedures are used to create the accountability of research conclusions.

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Author Biography

Krzysztof T. Konecki, Lodz University, Poland

Krzysztof T. Konecki is a Professor of Sociology, chair of Organizational and Management Sociology Department, Lodz University, Poland, Vice – President of the Qualitative Methods Research Network of the European Sociological Association. His major research areas are: qualitative sociology, grounded theory, symbolic interactionism, visual sociology, sociology of management and organization, sociology of work, organizational symbolism, Japanese culture and management, human-non-human-animals relationships.

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