Reflections on trustworthiness in phenomenographic research: Recognising purpose, context and change in the process of research

In interpretive research, trustworthiness has developed to become an important alternative for measuring the value of research and its effects, as well as leading the way in providing for rigour in the research process. The article develops the argument that trustworthiness plays an important role in not only effecting change in a research project's original setting, but also that trustworthy research contributes toward building a body of knowledge that can play an important role in societal change. An essential aspect in the development of this trustworthiness is its relationship to context. To deal with the multiplicity of meanings of context, we distinguish between contexts at different levels of the research project: the domains of the researcher, the collective, and the individual participant. Furthermore, we argue that depending on the primary purpose associated with the collective learning potential, critical potential, or performative potential of phenomenographic research, developing trustworthiness may take different forms and is related to aspects of pedagogical, social and epistemological legitimacy. Trustworthiness in phenomenographic research is further analysed by distinguishing between the internal horizon – the constitution of trustworthiness as it takes place within the research project – and the external horizon, which points to the impact of the phenomenographic project in the world mediated by trustworthiness.