Criteria for assessing the trustworthiness of naturalistic inquiries

This is the ninth ERIC/ECTJ Annual Review Paper, preparation of which was supported by the ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) Clearinghouse on Information Resources, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York. The material in this article was prepared pursuant to a contract with the National Institute of Education, U.S. Department of Education. Contractors undertaking such projects under government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their judgment in professional and technical matters. Points of view or opinions do not necessarily represent the official view or opinion of NIE. The author is grateful to David Clark, Larry Havlicek, Robert Heinich, John McLaughlin, Cecil Miskel, and Robert Wolf for their careful critique of an earlier version of 1his paper, and to his wife, Yvonna Lincoln, from whose joint work with the author in other contexts many of the ideas expressed in this paper emanated.