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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, Wellington 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 involvement of other researchers (co-coders) in the coding and analysis of the gathered data, and the codes were intermittently compared and fine-tuned until agreement on the final coding system was reached; periodically, my own understanding 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 providing 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—Creswell 2018), and it is the quantitative counterpart of the qualitative term credibility. Internal validity was ensured by adopting the mixed-methods research design (cf. method and data source triangulation), where the quantitative 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. Obviously, this does not allow for a representative sample, but the research project 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 +61 +
