Table 1 Criteria and strategies used to establish trustworthiness
Criteria | Strategies used |
|---|---|
Credibility | Investigator triangulation: the analysis of each interview was checked by two researchers. Additionally, both authors discussed all the analyses to reach consensus about the differences in coding and identified categories together Participant triangulation: the study included participants with different: degrees of experience with lower limb wearable exoskeletons, backgrounds, SCI classification, mobility impairment, ages, sex and related to different institutions. Therefore, multiple perspectives were acquired about a common topic: the requirements, expectations and needs of people with SCI for a wearable lower limb exoskeleton Triangulation of methods of data collection: semi structured interviews as well as researcher field notes were gathered Researcher reflexivity was reinforced by discussing researchers’ positionality in reference to the topic studied and the population included in the study, and by clarifying the rationale behind the study |
Transferability | The methodology used in this study is described in-depth, including characteristics of researchers, participants, contexts and sampling strategies, as well as the procedures used for data collection and analysis |
Dependability | Audit trail: the researchers kept record of all the steps taken during the process from the conception of the study to the reporting of the results. This register of the research path guarantees the study conform to the standards for qualitative research using content analysis |
Confirmability | Triangulations of researchers, participants, and methods of data collection were performed Researcher reflexivity was reinforced by discussing researchers’ positionality in reference to the topic studied and the population included in the study, and by clarifying the rationale behind the study Relevant issues regarding the positioning of the researchers are: (a) the study is part of a larger project called TAILOR (RTI2018-097290-B-C31), aimed at developing “Personalized Robotic and Neuroprosthetic Modular Wearable Systems for Assistance of Impaired Walking”, (b) none of the researchers has a SCI, (c) none of the interviewers had ever developed a robotic technology or is in charge of developing the exoskeleton in TAILOR, and (d) the interviewers did not and will not provide any type of clinical assistance to the subjects recruited |