1.4 Validity

Question 1

define concurrent validity

Answer 1

a means of establishing validity by comparing an existing test or questionnaire with the one you are interested in

Question 2

define ‘ecological validity’

Answer 2

A form of external validity, concerning the ability to generalise a research effect beyond the particular setting in which it is demonstrated, to other settings. Ecological validity is established by representativeness (mundane realism) and generalisability (to other settings)

Question 3

define face validity

Answer 3

the extent to which test items look like what the test claims to measure

Question 4

define mundane realism

Answer 4

refers to how a study mirrors the real world.
the research environment is realistic to the degree to which experiences encountered in the research environment will occur in the real world

Question 5

define temporal validity

Answer 5

concerning the ability to generalise a research effect beyond the particular time period of study

Question 6

define ‘validity’

Answer 6

Refers to whether an observed effect is a genuine one.

Question 7

define ‘external validity’

Answer 7

The degree to which a research finding can be generalised: to other settings (ecological validity); to other groups of people (population validity); over time (historical validity)

Question 8

define ‘historical validity’

Answer 8

The historical period. If a study was conducted in the 1950s it may not be appropriate to generalise the findings to people today because many other factors affect behaviour now. A type of external validity.

Question 9

define ‘internal validity’

Answer 9

The degree to which an observed effect was due to the experimental manipulation rather than other factors such as confounding/extraneous variables.

Question 10

define ‘population validity’

Answer 10

A form of external validity, concerning the extent to which the findings of a study can be generalised to other groups of people besides those who took part in the study.

Question 11

how do we improve validity?

Answer 11

revise questions so that they look more relevant, or revise and check concurrent validity again
improve design, e.g. use double blind or more realistic task

Question 12

how do we assess validity?

Answer 12

face validity - whether test/questionnaire items look like they are measuring what they claim to be measuring
concurrent validity - checking if a test correlates well with existing validated measures

Question 13

what can cause a research study to have poor internal validity?

Answer 13

investigator effects, demand characteristics, confounding variables, social desirability bias, poorly operationalised behavioural categories - all mean that a researcher may not be recording how people really think and behave

Question 14

define ‘demand characteristics’

Answer 14

A cue that makes participants unconsciously aware of the aims of a study or helps participants work out what the researcher expects to find.

Question 15

define ‘investigator effects’

Sometimes referred to as investigator or experimenter bias

Answer 15

Anything that an investigator does that has an effect on a participants performance in a study other than what was intended. This includes direct effects (as a consequence of the investigator interacting with the participant) and indirect effects (as a consequence of the investigator designing the study). Investigator effects may act as a confounding or extraneous variable.

Question 16

define ‘confounding variable’

Answer 16

A variable under study that is not the IV but which varies systematically with the IV. Changes in the dependent variable may be due to the confounding variable rather than the IV, and therefore the outcome is meaningless. To ‘confound’ means to cause confusion

Question 17

define ‘social desirability bias’

Answer 17

A distortion in the way people answer questions - they tend to answer questions in such a way that presents themselves in a better light.

Question 18

define ‘behaviour categories’

Answer 18

Dividing a target behaviour (such as stress or aggression) into a subset of specific and operationalised behaviours

Question 19

define ‘mundane realism’

Answer 19

Refers to how a study mirrors the real world. The research environment is realistic to the degree to which experiences encountered in the research environment will occur in the real world.

Question 20

define ‘observer bias’

Answer 20

Observers’ expectations affect what they see or hear. This reduces the validity of the observations.

Question 21

define ‘peer review’

Answer 21

The practice of using independent experts to assess the quality and validity of scientific research and academic reports.

Question 22

define ‘bias’

Answer 22

A systematic distortion

Question 23

define ‘interview bias’

Answer 23

The effect of an interviewer’s expectations, communicated unconsciously, on a respondent’s behaviour.

Question 24

define ‘volunteer bias’

Answer 24

A form of sampling bias (distortion) because volunteer participants have special characteristics, such as usually being more highly motivated than randomly selected participants.