What’s on the Triangulation poster
A definition and 6 facts worth remembering.
Approaching one question from more than one direction, so that a finding does not rest on the particular blind spots of a single method or source.
- Method: survey plus interviews on one question.
- Data: different times, sites or populations.
- Investigator: several researchers, same material.
- Theory: rival frameworks on the same evidence.
- Agreement raises confidence; it is not proof.
- Disagreement is a finding, not a failure.
- Coined — Denzin, 1970
- Best use — offsetting weaknesses
- Reported and observed housework differ consistently. The gap is itself evidence about…
Two methods sharing the same bias converge on the same error. Triangulation works only across different weaknesses.
Questions about the Triangulation poster
- What’s on the Triangulation poster?
- A definition and 6 facts worth remembering. Approaching one question from more than one direction, so that a finding does not rest on the particular blind spots of a single method or source. Method: survey plus interviews on one question.; Data: different times, sites or populations.; Investigator: several researchers, same material.; Theory: rival frameworks on the same evidence.; Agreement raises confidence; it is not proof.; Disagreement is a finding, not a failure.; Coined — Denzin, 1970; Best use — offsetting weaknesses; Reported and observed housework differ consistently. The gap is itself evidence about…. Two methods sharing the same bias converge on the same error. Triangulation works only across different weaknesses.
- Who is the Triangulation poster for?
- Triangulation belongs to the Sociology section rather than to a school year, because law & society is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning research methods can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Triangulation poster?
- When one method's known weakness is another method's strength. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Triangulation belongs on the wall where that law & society work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Triangulation?
- Claiming a Cause, Coding Qualitative Data and Ethnography sit alongside Triangulation in the Sociology section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.Claiming a CauseCoding Qualitative DataEthnography
- Is the Triangulation poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Triangulation downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Sociology section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Triangulation poster print at?
- Triangulation is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Triangulation loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Triangulation on the same wall.
Browse every Sociology poster, or start from the full catalogue.