Lesson 4: Validity

Question 1

What is validity?

Answer 1

Validity refers to whether a measure is actually measuring what it claims to be
measuring

Question 2

What is meant by face validity?

Answer 2

The degree to which a test appears to measure what it claims to measure at face value.

Question 3

What is meant by internal validity?

Answer 3

Measures whether the results of a test are due to to the manipulation of the independent variable and not confounding variables.

Question 4

How can internal validity be improved?

Answer 4

Internal validity can be improved by:

-Controlling extraneous variables

-Using standardised instructions

-Counterbalancing

-Eliminating demand characteristics and investigator effects.

Question 5

What is meant by external validity?

Answer 5

Refers to the extent to which the results of a study can be
generalised beyond the research setting

Question 6

How can external validity be improved?

Answer 6

External validity can be improved by setting experiments in a more natural
setting and using random sampling to select participants

Question 7

What is meant by ecological validity?

Answer 7

Ecological validity is where a measure of behaviour accurately reflects the way
in which the behaviour would occur in normal circumstances.

Question 8

What is meant by population validity?

Answer 8

Population validity refers to the extent to which the sample can be generalised
to the wider population.

Question 9

What is meant by temporal validity?

Answer 9

Temporal validity is when findings from research which took place at a certain
point in time accurately reflect the way behaviour would occur at a different
point in time.

Question 10

What is meant by concurrent validity?

Answer 10

Concurrent validity involves comparing a new test with an existing test (of the same nature) to see if they produce similar results.

Concurrent validity is a method of establishing internal validity.