Overall, however, women seemed able to counteract anyone's tendency to speak authoritatively for the group. They raised both their own concerns and concerns they had for those who might not have been present physically but who should not be excluded from the work.

Face validity: Researchers are expected to get extensive feedback from research participants regarding descriptions, analyses, and conclusions developed by themselves or by others. True reciprocity, Lather believes, requires theory building between the subjects and the researcher rather than theory imposition by the researcher alone. The researcher must feed all observations back to all the participants so that they have the opportunity to interpret and analyze their own experience, including the contradictions within that experience.

During this research, women gave continuous feedback on the research process, workshop designs, written material, and final documentation. They most often created the documentation in the first place. The coordinating researchers would then give feedback, they would give feedback on the feedback, and so on. To the best of our ability, we excluded no one's expressed opinion. Instead, we tried to incorporate everyone's perspective throughout the process. Every piece of documentation that included mention of particular women's experience was approved by them, both individually and collectively. They had an opportunity at all times to add in or modify their own reflection and analysis of their work.

Catalytic validity: Researchers are required to work in such a way that "the research process re-orients, focuses and energizes participants toward knowing reality in order to transform it." (Lather, 1991, p. 68) In this project, the opportunities for individual, paired, and group reflection, interpretation, and analysis instigated individual and collective changes in women's awareness and practice. They valued this opportunity to work with other women literacy workers from across the country, to share ideas, to give and receive support, and to strategize about ways of doing things differently. They experienced personal growth and professional development, they worked with other women in groups to develop political action, and several programs adopted structural change.