back to the Publication Alerts menuKrippendorff, Klaus. "Measuring the Reliability of Qualitative Text Analysis Data." Quality & Quantity 38, no. 6 (2004): 787-800.
Krippendorff presents a new technique for assessing the reliability of "variably unitized and multiply categorized or interpreted textual matter, video recordings, group interactions, and the like..." (p. 796). That is, Krippendorff shows how qualitative text analysis can employ rigorous reliability assessments, even for material in which units of analysis vary in length and for which coders are invited to arrive at multiple interpretations. A computational example is provided. Having demonstrated the feasibility of assessing the reliability of qualitative text analysis data, Krippendorff writes: "Qualitative text analysts often consider the lack of reliability measures in their empirical domain as indicative of the fundamental difference between qualitative and quantitative research. This justification is no longer valid" (p. 796).