Teaching outdoor and adventure activities: an investigation of a primary school physical education professional development p

Trustworthiness.
In order for the findings of the research to be considered 
believable the onus is on the researcher to make each stage of the research process 
visible (Maykut & Morehouse, 1994), for example, detailing the purpose of the study, 
how the participants became part of the study, the specific setting and participants, the 
data collection and analysis procedures used and the findings and outcomes arrived at.
Mishler (1990) supports this view but adds that the ultimate test of trustworthiness is 
whether the audience finds the outcomes credible enough to act upon them: ‘the key 
issue becomes whether the relevant community of scientists evaluates reported findings 
as sufficiently trustworthy to rely on them for their own work’ (p. 417).
One way of increasing trustworthiness is to utilize multiple methods of data 
collection so that the limitations of one method can be offset against the strengths of 
another (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2007). Observations backed up findings from 
interviews and finally member checks with teachers during discussions allowed 
emerging themes to be supported or refuted. Lincoln and Guba, (1985) suggest that 
prolonged engagement can maximize trustworthiness and in total, the researcher was in 
the field for twelve months. Persistent observation, the purpose of which is to ‘identify 
the characteristics and elements in the situation that are most relevant to the problem or 
issue being pursued and facing on them in detail’ (p. 304) can also increase 
trustworthiness.
Triangulation of data.
Triangulation has been defined as ‘the combinations and 
comparisons of multiple data sources, data collection and analysis procedures, research 
methods, and/or inferences that occur at the end of a study’ (Tashakkori & Teddlie, 
2003). Different methods of data collection provide different perspectives and produce 
data that potentially have inherent weaknesses regarding the overall aims of a particular 
research and/or practical obstacles the researcher may encounter (Denscombe, 2003). If 
researchers exclusively rely on one particular method of collecting data, their 
interpretation of what they are exploring may influence or misconstrue their 
interpretation of what is being explored (Cohen et al., 2000). When different methods 
of data collection are used each method can potentially look at something from different 
viewpoints, which in turn can be compared and contrasted by the researcher. Looking 
at things from different viewpoints can corroborate findings and improve validity of the 

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data. The categories that were developed from the process of coding the teachers’ 
interview data were combined and compared to those that emerged from the analysis of 
observational/field note data and the analysis of the children’s interview data, in this 
study. An example of triangulation can be seen in Table 3.1. 
Table 3.1 Data triangulation matrix