Criteria of Validity and Reliability in Qualitative Research

Today, with emerging qualitative methodology, questions about the validity and reliability in qualitative research findings have raised. According to different views about validity and reliability of qualitative research, this study aimed to determine the main criteria of validity and reliability in qualitative research from the view pointes of experts groups.
In this cross-sectional descriptive research, internet scientific search was done in national and international valid databases including Irandoc, PubMed, CINAHL, ScienceDirect, and Thomson Reuters Web of Science using keywords about the validity and reliability of qualitative research. The articles focusing on the validity and reliability in qualitative research in the area of health and hygiene during the years after 2002 were extracted and assessed.
A total of 25 research and review articles, and other resources related to reliability and validity of qualitative research since 2002 were extracted and assessed. There were variety of methods, and interpretive viewpoints about the validity and reliability of qualitative researches. Evaluation methods to gain credibility and reliability in qualitative researches depended on researcher's ontological, epistemological, and theoretical attitudes and insights.
Any researcher depending on his/her theoretical insights selects a separated method to assess the reliability of their qualitative researches. The reliability and validity in qualitative researches depend on asking principle questions about the nature of research, recognition of it, the logic governing it, and the trustworthiness of results.