Objections To Member Checks
Many writers establish internal validity – truthfulness and representation of the reality of the participants - by showing that they have carried out a ‘member check’ as Lincoln and Guba (1985) suggest. However, some researchers disagree with the use of a member check. Many researchers have noted that when the essence of the participants' experiences are similar, their stories represent social reality. Accordingly, phenomenology (science) is defined as a philosophy or method of inquiry based on the premise that reality consists of objects and events as they are perceived or understood in human consciousness and not of anything independent of human consciousness.
In qualitative research, phenomenological methods are used to learn and construct the meaning of the human experience through intensive dialogue with persons who are living the experience. The researcher's goal is to explain the meaning of the experience to the participant. This is achieved through a dialogic process, which is more than a simple interview. Therefore, in their opinion, a member check can adversely transform the data through the process of analysis and writing. Phenomenologists believe each individual has his/her own unique perspective, inhabits a social world, and recognizes others’ reality to some extent. They believe that for an account to have validity, its readers will have grasped not only the essence of the phenomenon but also understood something of the human condition they have in common with the participants-–intersubjective understanding.
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Famous quotes containing the words objections, member and/or checks:
“Miss Western: Tell me, child, what objections can you have to the young gentleman?
Sophie: A very solid objection, in my opinion. I hate him.
Miss Western: Well, I have known many couples who have entirely disliked each other, lead very comfortable, genteel lives.”
—John Osborne (1929–1994)
“While waiting to get married, several forms of employment were acceptable. Teaching kindergarten was for those girls who stayed in school four years. The rest were secretaries, typists, file clerks, or receptionists in insurance firms or banks, preferably those owned or run by the family, but respectable enough if the boss was an upstanding Christian member of the community.”
—Barbara Howar (b. 1934)
“Our checks are pale. Our wallets are invalids.
Past due, past due, is what our bills are saying
and yet we kiss in every corner, scuffing the dust
and the cat. Love rises like bread as we go bust.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)