In the modern world or natural science model, there is an objective world and there are objective truths, and traditional positivist notions of science should lead to the discovery and understanding of those truths. In this modern world, scientific validity can be best understood through the assessment of the truthfulness of its statements using the correspondence criterion (accuracy or strength of relationship between the scientific statements and the objective world), coherence criterion (internal logic or consistency among scientific statements), and pragmatic criterion (practical outcomes of the scientific statements.)
In the postmodern world as the rejection of the natural science model, empirical reality is seen as a social entity, and truth is therefore socially constructed (e.g., though dialogue). In these socially constructed worlds, in which there are many possible worldviews, truths, and criteria for truth, traditional criteria for truth may be more or less correct, depending upon one's point of view. Kvale (1996) identifies three forms of validity.
Validity as craftmanship involves the trustworthiness of study's results, and it is most directly conceptualized by the strength of a study's falsification attempts. To enhance judgements about validity of craftmanship, (1) the researcher must adopt a critical outlook during the analysis, (2) the purpose and content of the study must precede its method, and (3) the research must be tightly connected to theory creation or testing.
Validity as communication demonstrates hermeneutic traditions. To determine the judgement of validity of communication, (1) communication and truth testing involve persuasion through rational discourse, (2) the criteria or purpose of the discourse should be clear, and (3) the interests of the debating parties should be made clear as well. Pragmatic validity involves the real-world changes that occur as a result of a researcher's theory, propositions, or actions. A theory, proposition, or action can induce verbal changes, and induce behavioral changes as well.
Lee, Thomas W. (1998). Using Qualitative Methods in Organizational Research. CA. Sage.
