Triangulation is a data analysis technique that focuses on contrasting visions or approaches based on the data collected. By means of this the methods used to study the phenomenon are mixed, either those of quantitative or qualitative orientation.
Its purpose or purpose is the contrast of several data and methods that are focused on the same problem, so you can establish comparisons, take the impressions of different groups, in different contexts and temporalities, thus evaluating the problem with breadth, diversity, impartiality and objectivity.
In this regard, Ruth and Finol (2009) in their research article entitled: Triangulation as an Analysis Procedure for Educational Research highlight the following:
The triangulation in social research has many advantages because using different methods, these act as filters through which reality is captured selectively. For this reason it is convenient to collect the event data with different methods: if the methods differ from each other, in this way they will provide the researcher with a greater degree of confidence, minimizing the subjectivity that may exist in any act of human intervention.
TYPES OF TRIANGULATIONS AND THEIR DEFINITIONS:
The triangulation of data: The authors when referring to this type of triangulation pose the crossing of different strategies used to collect data. “Its objective is to verify the detected tendencies in a certain group of observations. The confrontation of the data can be based on spatio-temporal criteria and levels of analysis “, they add.
Regarding spatio-temporal criteria, spatial refers to the fact that the study does not focus on populations located in the same place that refer to the same culture, but on the variability of working with subjects from different areas and temporality has to see with the study of phenomena at different times.
On the other hand, Leal (2005) in the book titled The Autonomy of the Subject Investigator and the Research Methodology, refers to this type of triangulation in this way:
The denomination of methods and techniques and exposes that it has to do with the multiple use of methods to study a specific problem. “For example, when the interview technique is used as an initial process of gathering information to be later contrasted with participant observation and / or group discussion”.
The triangulation of person: It is a type of opposition of data from subjects of different nature of grouping, for example, in itself, a family group, a community, a couple … Ruth and Finol (2009) continue by pointing out:
… the researcher can collect the data of individuals, couples or groups, or each of the three types. Data collection from one source is used to validate data from the other sources or a single source. Each level of data is used to validate the findings of the other level …
Triangulation of researchers: Like the triangulation of people, researchers are specialized subjects in the analysis of a phenomenon.
This group can present differences in their composition and their way of relating to the object of study, because their years of training and type of training do not have to be the same. Adds Leal (2005) … “based on the principle of complementarity, it is possible to compare or triangulate the results of qualitative and quantitative research to have a more approximate vision of reality” …
Finally this author points out that each triangulation has a structural process, that is, a kind of scheme for its development that in each of the cases is given thanks to another important point as are the categories, which originate from the data , characterize the phenomenon of study and guide these oppositions or tests.
