Questions: Triangulation: Convergent Validity and Method Confirmation

Question 1

A public health researcher surveys residents about alcohol consumption (self-report) and cross-checks with hospital admission records for alcohol-related conditions. This is an example of which type of triangulation?

• A. Theory triangulation
• B. Investigator triangulation
• C. Data triangulation
• D. Methodological triangulation

Answer: (C)

Using multiple data sources — self-report survey and administrative hospital records — to examine the same phenomenon is data triangulation. Both sources measure alcohol-related outcomes, but through different collection mechanisms with different biases. Methodological triangulation would involve qualitatively different methods (e.g., survey + ethnography), not just different data sources measuring the same thing.

Question 2

A survey finds that employees strongly endorse their company's diversity climate. A subsequent set of interviews reveals widespread informal exclusion of minority employees. Should the researcher treat this as a failed study? Why or why not?

Model answer: No. Divergence between methods is a finding, not a failure. The researcher should investigate why the methods disagree: the survey may elicit socially desirable responses; the interviews may surface dynamics too risky to express on a survey; or employees may genuinely hold positive abstract beliefs about diversity while acting in discriminatory ways day-to-day. The divergence reveals a gap between espoused values and enacted practices — a theoretically important finding.

Divergence prompts theoretical deepening. A study that only used one method would never surface the contradiction; triangulation made the gap visible.