Evidence of Convergent Validity: A Comparative Analysis of Sentencing Verdicts and Newspaper Accounts of South Korean Parricides

Researchers have used multiple sources of archival data (e.g., newspapers, trial transcripts, biographies, and periodicals) to examine parricides and other types of homicide. However, the validity of using newspapers as a form of data has been accepted in an anecdotal and impressionistic manner. This paper compares newspapers with one particular type of court record, the sentencing verdict. The two divergent sources of data are used to create a convergence rate, proffering evidence of convergent validity in two disparate archival sources. Findings indicate that there is convergence in the "emic" factors related to parricide. The implications for using archival records for homicide research and democracy are discussed.