Ch8Research Flashcards
How is the validity of a piece of research defined?
The extent to which the conclusions of that research are believable and useful.
What are the four types of validity?
Internal validity, construct validity, external validity, and statistical conclusion validity
How is internal validity defined?
the extent to which the results of a study demonstrate that a causal relationship exists between the IV and DV.
What is considered the best way to control threats to internal validity?
the classical randomized controlled trial, with random assignments to experimental and control groups
What general strategy do researchers use to increase internal validity?
maximize their control over all aspects of the research project
What are some of the threats to internal validity?
History, maturation, testing, instrumentation, statistical regression to the mean, assignment (subject selected), subject attrition, interactions between assignment and maturation, history, or instrumentation, diffusion or imitation of treatments
With what is construct validity concerned?
the meaning of variables within a study
What are some of the threats to construct validity?
construct underrepresentation, experimenter expectancies, interaction between different treatments, interaction between testing and treatment
With what is external validity concerned?
to whom, in what settings, and at what times the results of research can be generalized
What are some of the threats to external validity?
selection, setting, time
How is external validity increased in single-subject research?
through replication
What are ‘cumulative relationships’ in regards to the relationships among types of validity?
a change that influences one of the threats influences other threats in the same way
What are ‘reciprocal threats’ in regards to the relationships among types of validity?
when controlling a threat to one type of validity leads to realization of a different threat to validity
