Actually this is a VERY interesting question. I agree with the previous
sentiment about reliability being something we all need to aim for. What
should be acknowledged however is that (as Kath Checkland noted) there is
never going to be any 'right' answer, and subsequently never any entirely
valid solution ... at least not from parallel coding. As far as I'm
concerned, this even includes having a supervisor and acknowledged expert
parallel coding some sections. The problem one faces there, is are you
getting drawn into someone else's worldviews and perspectives. Admittedly you
may be working from a very similar epistemology, but they will never be
precisely the same ... and even similar or identical epistemologies do offer
a degree of flexibility dependent on your background, etc. Perhaps the only
real validity that can be achieved here is internal i.e. from that of the
individual coder, after all, that's half the point of qualitative research.
Its not necessarily expected that any two people will get the same codes, as
you are never operating from the same worldview. What is expected however, is
if YOU did it again under the same circumstance, that you would make the same
coding. My thoughts would be to be very conscious in documenting what you're
doing and why you are making the decisions you are at any given point in
time. Keep a running journal of your coding thoughts.
Having said that though, its always interesting getting other perspectives.
I'm just not entirely convinced it makes it more reliable, certainly not in a
quantitative sense where you would need hundreds of perspectives. Perhaps it
does something for the validity though? That's another question.
Ok, that's my 2 cents worth. Hope you found it interesting.
Kevin
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Kevin Franklin
Corporate Citizenship Unit
Centre for Creativity Strategy and Change
Warwick Business School,
University of Warwick
Coventry, CV4 7AL
UK
http://users.wbs.warwick.ac.uk/ccu/
Tel: 024 765 73130
Home: 01225 318772
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