Chapter 7: Reciprocal Validity: Description and Outcomes of a Hybrid Approach of Triangulated Qualitative Analysis in the Research of Civic Engagement

Providing opportunities for students to assimilate skills of civic engagement has generated a new and provocative dialogue of higher education’s role in this process. However, constructs of civic education skills have generally been conceptualized and proposed by scholars or by policymakers in public or higher education. It is equally important to validate these components, especially within authentic settings and from practitioners’ perspectives. Likewise, it is necessary to consider the ramifications of discrepancies that might emerge from multiple perspectives. This can be accomplished by incorporating a new methodology referred to as reciprocal validity that is described in this chapter. Reciprocal validity is a hybrid approach of triangulation that combines salient features of theoretical models with other types of validity using Delphi technique to form a new qualitative methodology in social and behavioral science to study civic engagement and service-learning. The chapter begins by reviewing and describing civic engagement skills that have been presented in the professional literature and continues with an illustration of how reciprocal validity was employed in the analysis of those skills.