LA#11 Chapter 14 Flashcards
Why should the validity and reliability of study instruments be assessed while critiquing research reports?
a. To determine the utility of the instruments for triangulation
b. To assess the relationships between hypotheses and research questions
c. To determine whether concepts and variables were measured adequately
d. To assess whether the concept under study is being treated as a dependent variable or an independent variable
Ans. C
Which of the following terms is applied to variability in test scores being attributed to error rather than to actual differences in behaviour?
a. Random error
b. Variance error
c. Persistent error
d. Systematic error
Ans. D
The validity of a new instrument developed to measure peripheral neuropathy has been determined to be very high. What does this attribute mean?
a. It is sensitive but not specific.
b. Its use results in minimal random errors.
c. It accurately measures peripheral neuropathy.
d. Determination of interrater reliability is unnecessary.
Ans. C
What is being established when a researcher submits a few items to each of several concepts on an instrument? For example, a questionnaire on measuring depression has items on emotional and physical abuse.
a. Content validity
b. Construct validity
c. Concurrent validity
d. Criterion-related validity
Ans. B
A researcher who is developing a new instrument to measure pain has been told by experts and patients that the instrument has face validity. What should be the researcher’s next step?
a. Commence use of the instrument in any appropriate study.
b. Use the instrument in a pilot study.
c. Assess the reliability of the instrument.
d. Assess the content validity of the instrument.
Ans. D
What type of validity is demonstrated in measuring the cognitive knowledge of wound care by (1) administering a test in which all the items relate to wound care and (2) evaluating students’ performance in caring for patients with wounds in the clinical setting?
a. Face validity
b. Content validity
c. Construct validity
d. Criterion-related validity
Ans. D
What does concurrent validity refer to?
a. The degree of correlation between the measure of the concept and some future measure of the same concept
b. The degree of correlation between two measures of the same concept administered at the same time
c. The extent to which a test measures a theoretical construct or trait
d. The representativeness of items to measure a specific concept
Ans. B
Which of the following types of validity is the most difficult to establish?
a. Content validity
b. Construct validity
c. Predictive validity
d. Concurrent validity
Ans. C
A researcher developed a fatigue scale in an attempt to distinguish depression from fatigue in patients receiving radiation therapy for cancer. The researcher administered the new fatigue scale along with established instruments that measure depression. The fatigue scores were found to be negatively related to the indicators of depression. How should this information be interpreted?
a. Divergent validity present; construct validity supported
b. Divergent validity present; construct validity unsupported
c. Convergent validity present; construct validity supported
d. Convergent validity present; construct validity unsupported
Ans. A
A researcher developed an instrument to measure self-esteem and administered it to a group of individuals who were intravenous substance abusers and to a group of people who were not, expecting to see significant differences in scores between the two groups. How should this method of establishing construct validity be categorized?
a. Factor analysis
b. Convergent validity
c. Discriminant validity
d. Contrasted-groups approach
Ans. D
The dimensions or components of a particular construct are determined by using a statistical technique to assess the degree to which the individual items on a scale truly cluster around one or more dimensions. Which of the following is the term used for this description?
a. Factor analysis
b. Split-half reliability
c. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient
d. Kuder-Richardson coefficient
Ans. A
Which of the following characteristics describes an instrument that is administered repeatedly and obtains the same results?
a. Validity
b. Reliability
c. Consistency
d. Predictability
Ans. B
The reliability coefficient of a new instrument designed to measure anxiety is established at 0.86. What is the correct interpretation of this finding?
a. High error variance; high reliability
b. High error variance; low reliability
c. Low error variance; high reliability
d. Low error variance; low reliability
Ans. C
Testing of a new instrument demonstrates that it has a high degree of internal consistency. What does this mean?
a. The instrument is appropriate to measure a single concept.
b. The instrument has low measurement error and high error variance.
c. More refinement of the instrument is needed before it can be applied.
d. The instrument is valid, but the reliability has yet to be determined.
Ans. A
By using the item-to-total correlation in testing an instrument that consisted of 25 items for homogeneity, 8 items were found to have a low correlation to the total. How should the researcher use this information?
a. Use the instrument without changes.
b. Only use the instrument with a multitrait–multimethod approach.
c. Retain the 8 items with low correlation and delete the other 17 items.
d. Delete the 8 items with low correlation and retain the other 17 items.
Ans. D
