Triangulation in practice

Turner, Phil; Turner, Susan

Abstract

Triangulation is the means by which an alternate perspective is used to validate, challenge or extend existing findings. It is frequently used when the field of study is difficult, demanding or contentious and presence research meets all of these criteria. We distinguish between the use of hard and soft triangulation-the former emphasising the challenging of findings, the latter being more confirmatory in character. Having reviewed a substantial number of presence papers, we conclude that strong triangulation is not widely used while soft triangulation is routinely employed. We demonstrate the usefulness of hard triangulation by contrasting an ontological analysis of in-ness with an empirical study of (computer) game playing. We conclude that presence research would be well served by the wider use of hard triangulation and for the reporting of anomalous and ill-fitting results.

Citation

Turner, P., & Turner, S. (2009). Triangulation in practice. Virtual Reality, 13(3), 171-181. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-009-0117-2

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: May 12, 2009
• Publication Date: 2009-09
• Deposit Date: Jan 12, 2010
• Publicly Available Date: May 16, 2017
• Print ISSN: 1359-4338
• Electronic ISSN: 1434-9957
• Publisher: BMC
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 13
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 171-181
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-009-0117-2
• Keywords: computer game playing; virtual reality; involvement; hard triangulation; ontological analysis; presence research
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/3516
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10055-009-0117-2
• Additional Information: A much earlier version of this paper appears in the Proceedings of the 11th International Workshop on Presence, 279–287.
• Contract Date: May 16, 2017