M7: Validity Flashcards
What is Internal Validity?
The extent to which the change in the DV can be attributed to the manipulation of the IV
Accuracy
What is External Validity?
Extent to which researchers can generalize their findings to other people, situations, and times
are lab studies appicable to the field?
are older studies applicable in the present?
ex. applying results of males to females
Accuracy
What is a RELIABLE INSTRUMENT?
Consistent
What is the relationship b/w Internal and External Validity?
What are THREATS TO INTERNAL VALIDITY?
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Experimental procedures, treatments, or experiences of the participants that threaten the researcher’s ability to draw correct inferences from the data about the population in an experiment.
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How is ___________ a THREAT TO INTERNAL VALIDITY?
HISTORY
Events occurring during the course of experiment that cause changes in the DV and are not the intervention (IV)
- An unplanned event that coincides with the IV could be responsible for the observed changes in the DV (true cause)
How is ___________ a THREAT TO INTERNAL VALIDITY?
Maturation
Processes within participant that are a result of time passing
- E.g., DV is a physical fitness test (beep test)
How is ___________ a THREAT TO INTERNAL VALIDITY?
Testing
The effects of 1 test on another test
- Reactivity
- Warm-Up Effect
- Loss of Naivety
How is ___________ a THREAT TO INTERNAL VALIDITY?
Reactivity Effect
Testing
- Reactivity – exposure to pretest changes behaviour
- E.g., Self-monitoring – athletes increase their effort simply because they were asked to record it
How is ___________ a THREAT TO INTERNAL VALIDITY?
Warm-Up Effect
Testing
Warm-up Effect – Do better on the subsequent measure/test because they are more familiar with it
How is ___________ a THREAT TO INTERNAL VALIDITY?
Loss of Naivety
People start catching on to what you are testing/measuring
How is ___________ a THREAT TO INTERNAL VALIDITY?
INSTRUMENTATION
Quantitative research relies on measurement:
- E.g., leadership style, MRI, motivation etc
- Changes in instrument calibration, including lack of agreement within and between observers
- It is important that the data acquired from instruments be accurate or else the interpretation of results will be inaccurate
How is ___________ a THREAT TO INTERNAL VALIDITY?
SELECTION BIAS
Choosing comparison groups in a non-random manner (not randomly assigned)
- Pre-existing differences between groups - functions as confounding variables
How is ___________ a THREAT TO INTERNAL VALIDITY?
EXPERIMENTAL MORTALITY
Loss of participants from comparison groups for non-random reasons
Participants drop out and those who remain tend to be more motivated (results in higher scores on post-test)
How is ___________ a THREAT TO INTERNAL VALIDITY?
SELECTION-MATURATION INTERACTION
The passage of time affects one group but not the
other in nonequivalent group designs
How is ___________ a THREAT TO INTERNAL VALIDITY?
EXPECTANCY
Researchers anticipating that certain participants will perform better
