Oldal 63 [63]
RESEARCH METHODS
3.3 OUALITY CRITERIA IN THE RESEARCH PROJECT
Quality control in all studies was ensured based on the measures detailed in
the literature (Cohen et al. 2018, Creswell—Creswell 2018, Dérnyei 2007, Wel¬
lington 2015). An overview of these measures is outlined below.
Lincoln and Guba (1985) assert that the key quality criteria of qualitative
research are: credibility, dependability, transferability, and conformability.
First, credibility is the truth value of the research, meaning that the results of
the research are believable. In order to ensure the credibility of the qualitative
study (Study One) of the research project, several measures were taken. In line
with Cohen et al.’s (2018) recommendations, the first measure was the involve¬
ment of other researchers (co-coders) in the coding and analysis of the gathered
data, and the codes were intermittently compared and fine-tuned until agree¬
ment on the final coding system was reached; periodically, my own under¬
standing of what the participants said during the interview was ensured by
paraphrasing and summarizing to participants what they had said and asking
for more clarification (respondent validation). Second, dependability means
that the findings of the research are consistent and can be repeated. Third,
transferability means the extent to which the research can be transferred to
other contexts. Both dependability and transferability were ensured by pro¬
viding thick descriptions and high detail on important aspects of the research
(e.g., rich description of the methods, findings, etc.) so that other researchers
could replicate the study. Finally, confirmability concerns to what extent the
findings are supported by the collected data (Dérnyei 2007), which was ensured
by involving co-coders in the case of Study One.
On the other hand, the key quality criteria of quantitative research are
internal validity, external validity, reliability, and objectivity (Cohen et al.
2018). Internal validity refers to the soundness of the research (Creswell—Cre¬
swell 2018), and it is the quantitative counterpart of the qualitative term
credibility. Internal validity was ensured by adopting the mixed-methods re¬
search design (cf. method and data source triangulation), where the quantita¬
tive questionnaire survey is preceded by a qualitative interview study. External
validity means the extent to which the results of the study can be generalized
to a population (Wellington 2015), and it is the quantitative counterpart of
transferability. The external validity of the quantitative studies in the scope of
this research project was ensured by extending the sample size and making
an attempt to involve secondary school students and secondary school EFL
teachers from all types of secondary schools and all regions in Hungary. Ob¬
viously, this does not allow for a representative sample, but the research proj¬
ect being exploratory in nature, the original aim of the research was not to
produce completely generalizable results that may be transferable to the whole
population of Hungarian secondary school students and secondary school EFL
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