triangulation

English

WOTD – 3 March 2019

Etymology

People determining the width of a river by triangulation (sense 1)^[1]

triangulate +‎ -ion.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /tɹʌɪaŋɡjʊˈleɪʃn̩/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˌtɹaɪˌæŋɡjəˈleɪʃən/
Rhymes: -eɪʃən
Hyphenation: tri‧an‧gu‧lat‧ion

Noun

triangulation (countable and uncountable, plural triangulations)

(uncountable, surveying) A technique in which distances and directions are estimated from an accurately measured baseline and the principles of trigonometry.
(countable, surveying) The network of triangles so obtained, that are the basis of a chart or map.
(countable, chess) A delaying move in which the king moves in a triangular path to force the advance of a pawn.
(uncountable, navigation, seismology) A process by which an unknown location is found using three known distances from known locations.
(uncountable, politics) The practice of repositioning one's group or oneself on the political spectrum in an attempt to capture the centre.
(uncountable, qualitative research) The use of three (or more) researchers to interview the same people or to evaluate the same evidence to reduce the impact of individual bias.
- 2003 December 1, Nahid Golafshani, “Understanding Reliability and Validity in Qualitative Research”, in The Qualitative Report‎, volume 8, number 4, page 603:
  Even though triangulation is used in quantitative paradigm for confirmation and generalization of a research, Barbour (1998) does not disregard the notion of triangulation in qualitative paradigm and she states the need to define triangulation from a qualitative research's perspective in each paradigm. For example, in using triangulation of several data sources in quantitative research, any exception may lead to a disconfirmation of the hypothesis where exceptions in qualitative research are dealt to modify the theories and are fruitful.