Final Validity

Question 1

Construct validity (p73, 105)

Answer 1

The degree to which a measurement device accurately measures the theoretical construct is designed to measure. Measures to what extent does the operational definition of a variable actually reflect the true theoretical meaning of the variable. It is a question of whether the measure that is being used actually measures the construct its intended to measure.

Question 2

External Validity (p73)

Answer 2

The degree to which the results of an experiment may be generalized. Can we generalize the findings of a study to other populations and settings?

Question 3

Internal Validity (p73,163)

Answer 3

The certainty with which results of an experiment can be attributed to the manipulation of the independent variable rather than to some other, confounding variable. The ability to draw conclusions about causal relationships from our data.

Question 4

Concurrent validity (p108)

Answer 4

The construct validity of a measure is assessed by examining whether groups of people differ on the measure in expected ways. It is demonstrated by research that examines the relationship between the measure and a criterion behavior at the same time (concurrently)

Question 5

Content validity (p107)

Answer 5

An indicator of construct validity of a measure in which the content of a measure is compared to the universe of content that defines the construct. Both face and construct validity focus on assessing whether the content of a measure reflects the meaning of the construct being measured. In validity research, the behavior is termed criterion. These validity indicators are: predictive validity, concurrent validity, convergent validity and discriminant validity.

Question 6

Convergent validity (p108)

Answer 6

The construct validity of a measure is assessed by examining the extent to which scores on the measure are related to scores on other measures of the same construct or similar constructs.
Measures of similar constructs should converge or correlate highly with another.

Question 7

Discriminant validity (p109)

Answer 7

The construct validity of a measure is assessed by examining the extent to which scores on the measure are not related to scores on the conceptually unrelated measures. It is demonstrated when the measure is Not related to variables with which it should not be related.

Question 8

Face validity (p107)

Answer 8

The degree to which a measurement device appears to accurately measure a variable. The content of the measure appears to reflect the construct being measured. (Ex: if the new measure of depression includes items like “ I feel sad” “I cry a lot “ then it would have evidence for being face valid.

Question 9

Predictive validity (p108)

Answer 9

The construct validity of a measure is assessed by examining the ability of the measure to predict future behavior. The criterion measure is based on future behavior or outcomes.