Triangulation

Triangulation is testing a conclusion along several independent routes: different data sources, methods or researchers arriving at the same point. Any single measurement can be an artefact of its method; when survey, behavioural data and sales figures point the same way, the conclusion carries weight. The principle also reverses the reading direction: seek not confirmation but sources that could refute the conclusion. In this curriculum triangulation is moreover the test for case studies and effect claims: a story only counts as evidence when independent tracks support it. Convergence is no guarantee, but it is the best research has to offer.

Covered in