The Content Validity strategy would increase the credibility of my study. In terms of my survey, it is important to be devising questions which measure my intended interest. Specifically, my hypothesis is although indigenous philosophy and practice revitalize the Klamath river, until shortcomings of the area’s co-management are abolished, TEK does not support the salmon. While the literature review revealed the connection between indigenous philosophy and resource management tactics, I need to identify whether bureaucracy has truly interfered with the indigenous people’s involvement. Further, the Klamath river is a crucial place to a variety of stakeholders. In order to prevent bias, participants in my research study must include representation from tribes, farmers, fishermen, environmentalists, two states, and multiple federal agencies. I also am aiming to incorporate a relatively objective aspect of my study to show which existing projects indigenous people have been a part of. That way, my results are not going to be entirely focused on inhabitant perceptions of whether indigenous people are enough involved. By doing so, I can have a holistic, accurate understanding of the situation.

The Internal Consistency strategy would increase the reliability of my study. First of all, I need to make sure I am asking the various stakeholders a lot of the same questions so they can be directly compared. I would also need to make sure I conduct all the interviews in the same visit to the Klamath, considering the political climate can change depending on a given season or other factors. I also need to be certain I am building the same degree of comfort with all my interviewees and do not approach the study with a biased attitude hoping my hypothesis stands correct. I can also improve internal consistency by cross-checking sources and using current sources for my final presentation.

Comment by Professor Kirwan:

Good ideas, Mary. Note that interviews are typically qualitative, not quantitative, and cannot normally be used to test a hypothesis like a survey could. You can improve internal consistency to reduce bias in the design by having consistent questioning strategies.

My Comment:

Ok makes sense

Thank you

Comment by Mattea Tingle:

Your discussion and choices for reliability are really interesting, and they brought up some points I had not thought of previously. The idea of asking your questions, whether it be a survey or interview, in a quick sequence to reduce the effect of changing political or cultural atmospheres makes sense. However, I think this type of situation would be best in comparing results before and after a markable event, but I am not sure how you have structured or worded your study for that type of research. I do agree with using internal consistency to ensure your study stays focused and measures what you intend to measure, but I feel you can not avoid the change of a person’s mind in changing times.