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Table 1 Key FDC strategies adapted from Lincoln and Guba [23]

From: Application of four-dimension criteria to assess rigour of qualitative research in emergency medicine

Rigour Criteria

Purpose

Original Strategies

Strategies applied in our study to achieve rigour

Credibility

To establish confidence that the results (from the perspective of the participants) are true, credible and believable.

• Prolonged and varied engagement with each setting

• Interviewers spent an average of 6–8 weeks per site to engage with ED and participants.

• Interviewing process and techniques

• Interview protocol tested at two induction meetings and using 1–2 pilot interviews.

• Establishing investigators’ authority

• We ensured the investigators had the required knowledge and research skills to perform their roles.

• Collection of referential adequacy materials

• We asked interviewers to send all the field notes to the research office for analysis and storage.

• Peer debriefing

• We had regular debriefing sessions with key members of Project Management Committee/Australasian College of Emergency Medicine.

Dependability

To ensure the findings of this qualitative inquiry are repeatable if the inquiry occurred within the same cohort of participants, coders and context.

• Rich description of the study methods

• We prepared detailed drafts of the study protocol throughout the study.

• Establishing an audit trail

• We developed a detailed track record of the data collection process.

• Stepwise replication of the data

• We measured coding accuracy and inter-coders’ reliability of the research team.

Confirmability

To extend the confidence that the results would be confirmed or corroborated by other researchers.

• Reflexivity

• We implemented reflexive journals and weekly investigators meetings.

• Triangulation

• We applied several triangulation techniques (methodological, data source, investigators and theoretical).

Transferability

To extend the degree to which the results can be generalized or transferred to other contexts or settings.

• Purposeful sampling to form a nominated sample

• We used a combination of three purposive sampling techniques.

• Data saturation

• We quantified operational and theoretical data saturation.