Techniques that can be used to ensure thoroughness and rigour include:

☑ Saturation – Finishing collecting data only when additional data no longer adds richness to understanding or aids in building theories.

☑ Crystallization – Building a rich and diverse understanding of one single situation or phenomenon by seeing the world as multifaceted, and accepting that what we see depends on where we look, where the light is, etc.

☑ Prolonged engagement – Investment of time sufficient to learn the culture, understand context, and/or build trust and rapport.

☑ Persistent observation – Looking for readings of a situation beyond an initial, possibly superficial, level.

☑ Broad representation – Representation wide enough to ensure that an institution, cultural group, or phenomenon can be spoken about confidently.

☑ Peer review – External checking on the research process in which a colleague is asked to act as a ‘devil’s advocate’ with regard to all aspects of methodology.

Techniques that can be used to obtain confirmation or verification include:

☑ Triangulation – Using more than one source of data to confirm the authenticity of each source.

☑ Member checking – Checking that interpretation of events, situations, and phenomena gels with the interpretations of ‘insiders’.

☑ Full explication of method – Providing readers with sufficient methodological detail so that studies are auditable and/or reproducible.