The Qualitative Report Volume 10 Number 3 September 2005 439-462 http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR10-3/marques.pdf
The Application of Interrater Reliability as a Solidification Instrument in a Phenomenological Study
Joan F. Marques
Woodbury University, Burbank, California
Chester McCall
Pepperdine University, Malibu, California
Interrater reliability has thus far not been a common application in phenomenological studies. However, once the suggestion was brought up by a team of supervising professors during the preliminary orals of a phenomenological study, the utilization of this verification tool turned out to be vital to the credibility level of this type of inquiry, where the researcher is perceived as the main instrument and where bias may, hence, be difficult to eliminate. With creativeness and the appropriate calculation approach the researcher of the here reviewed qualitative study managed to apply this verification tool and found that the establishment of interrater reliability served as a great solidification to the research findings. Key Words: Phenomenology, Interrater Reliability, Applicability, Bias Reduction, Qualitative Study, Research Findings, and Study Solidification
Introduction This paper intends to serve as support for the assertion that interrater reliability should not merely be limited to being a verification tool for quantitative research, but that it should be applied as a solidification strategy in qualitative analysis as well. This should be applied particularly in a phenomenological study, where the researcher is considered the main instrument and where, for that reason, the elimination of bias may be more difficult than in other study types. A "verification tool," as interrater reliability is often referred to in quantitative studies, is generally perceived as a means of verifying coherence in the understanding of a certain topic, while the term "solidification strategy," as referred to in this case of a qualitative study, reaches even further: Not just as a means of verifying coherence in understanding, but at the same time a method of strengthening the findings of the entire qualitative study. The following provides clarification of the distinction in using interrater reliability as a verification tool in quantitative studies versus using this test as a solidification tool in qualitative studies. Quantitative studies, which are traditionally regarded as more scientifically based than qualitative studies, mainly apply interrater reliability as a percentage-based agreement in findings that are usually fairly straightforward in their interpretability. The interraters in a quantitative study are not necessarily required to engage deeply into the material in order to obtain an

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