Quanti - Reliability and Validity

Question 1

Trustworthiness strategies in quantitative research
(the criterion - the test)

Answer 1

truth value - internal validity
applicability - external validity
consistency - reliability
neutrality - objectivity

Question 2

What is measurement error?

Answer 2

Distortion in measurement related to the effects of extraneous factors.

Question 3

What is the obtained score and how do you calculate it?

Answer 3

Obtained score = True score ± Error

Obtained score: an actual data value for a participant (e.g. participant’s score on an anxiety scale)

True score: the score that would be obtained with an infallible measure (caused by independent variable)

Error: caused by extraneous factors that distort measurement

Question 4

What are the common factors that lead to error of measurement?

Answer 4

Situational contaminants
Response-set biases
Transitory personal factors

Question 5

Error of measurement - situational contaminants

Answer 5

Scores can be affected by the conditions under which they are produced.
- the friendliness of researchers
- the location of the data gathering
- environmental factors:
e.g. temperature, lighting, time of day

Question 6

Error of measurement - response-set biases

Answer 6

are potential problems in self report measures, particularly in psychological scales

a temporary reaction to a situational demand
- Social desirability– expected public disclosure
- Acquiescence response- e.g.= time pressure
- Extreme responses– e.g., select extremity
responses almost exclusively

Question 7

What is social desirability bias (SDB)?

Answer 7

In self-reports, people will often report inaccurately on sensitive topics in order to present themselves in the best possible light

Question 8

What is an acquiescence response?

Answer 8

A tendency to agree (yea-sayers)/ disagree (nay-sayers)
with all statements, regardless of the content.

Question 9

Error of measurement - transitory personal factors

Answer 9

A person’s score can be influenced by such temporary personal states as fatigue, hunger, anxiety, or mood.

In some cases, such factors directly affect the measurement, e.g. when anxiety affects a pulse rate measurement.

Question 10

How do we reduce the error of measurement?

Answer 10

Train interviewers thoroughly so that they aren’t inadvertently introducing errors

Collect data at the similar place and time

Assure the questionnaires will be anonymous.

Assure the participants will be given enough time.

Assure the participants are mentally and physically ready for the assessment

Interviewer has to check if the participants are in unusual mood/states.

Question 11

What is reliability?

Answer 11

How CONSISTENTLY a data collection instrument measures the variable that it is supposed to measure.

The consistency with which an instrument measures the target attribute.

Question 12

What is validity?

Answer 12

Whether the data collection instrument measure the variable that it is supposed to measure

Using an anxiety scale for pain makes it INVALID

Question 13

What are the 3 aspects of reliability?

Answer 13

Stability
Internal consistency
Equivalence

Question 14

What is stability?

Answer 14

The extent to which scores are similar on two separate administration of an instrument

Assessed through TEST-RETEST RELIABILITY procedure = repeat to see the difference between the values obtained

Question 15

What is the reliability coefficient (r)?

Answer 15

A numeric index that quantifies an instrument’s reliability can be computed.

<0.7 - unsatisfactory
0.7-0.8 - acceptable
>0.8 - desirable

Question 16

What is the most popular statistical procedure used?

Answer 16

Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC)

Question 17

What is internal consistency?

Answer 17

• The extent that all the subparts of the instrument measure the same trait.
• Appropriate for most multi-item instruments.
• Evaluated by administering instrument on one occasion.
• The most widely used reliability approach

Question 18

How do we evaluate internal consistency?

Answer 18

Cronbach’s alpha
range from 0.00-1.00
0.7-0.9 - acceptable

too low - items are measuring different traits
too high - redundancy of items

Question 19

What is Cronbach’s alpha and what does it indicate?

Answer 19

Alpha indicates how well a group of items together measure the trait of interest (internal consistency).

If all items on a test measure the same underlying dimension, then the items will be highly correlated with all other items.

Question 20

What is equivalence?

Answer 20

Concerns the degree to which two or more independent observers or coders agree about the scoring on an instrument.

Assessed by comparing observations or ratings of two or more observers.

A high level of agreement between the raters indicates a good equivalence of the instrument.

Question 21

How is equivalence assessed?

Answer 21

Assessed through Inter-rater (interobserver) reliability procedure: which having two or more trained observers/coders watching an event simultaneously, and independently recording data according to the instrument’s instructions.

An index of agreement is calculated.
* Cohen’s Kappa (k) is used to measure inter-rater reliability for categorical outcomes (< 0.6)
* Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) is used to measure inter-rater reliability for continuous measures (≥ 0.7)

Question 22

What are major aspects of validiity?

Answer 22

Content validity
Criterion-related validity

Question 23

What is content validity?

Answer 23

Concerns the degree to which an instrument has an appropriate sample of items for the construct being measured.

Adequacy of content of the instrument in providing full coverage of the concepts of interest.

Question 24

How do we assess content validity of an instrument?

Answer 24

An instrument’s content validity is necessarily based on judgment by an expert panel.

Have experts rate items on a four-point scale
1 = not relevant 2 = somewhat
3 = relevant
4 = very relevant

A formal content validity index (CVI) across the experts’ ratings of each item’s relevance.

The CVI for the instrument is the proportion of items rated as either 3 or 4. A CVI score of 0.90 or better indicates good content validity.

Question 25

What is criterion-related validity?

Answer 25

The extent to which an instrument is corresponding to some external criterion of the variable of interest.

External criterion:
* A gold standard or well-established valid measure for the variable of interest.

Question 26

What is concurrent criterion-related validity?

Answer 26

To reflect the same incident of behavior with a criterion measure at the same time.

Administer the tested instrument together with the criterion measure.

e.g. If tested instrument: Cardiac Depression Scale (CDS)

Use Beck Depression Scale (as an external criterion) to measure depression level of subjects

Concurrent validity= correlation between CDS and BDS, correlation coefficients (r) of 0.70 or higher are desirable

Question 27

What is predictive criterion-related validity?

Answer 27

To predict subjects’ responses in the future

Criterion measure is used to assess subjects’ response in the future.

e.g. If tested instrument: Risk for malnutrition development

step 1: rate subjects on the tested instrument

step 2: follow-up subjects for the development of malnutrition

step 3: predictive validity is the correlation between instrument score and development of malnutrition (BMI)

step 4: correlation coefficients (r) of 0.70 or higher are desirable

Question 28

What is the difference between predictive and concurrent validity?

Answer 28

Difference lies in the timing of obtaining measurements on a criterion.

Predictive validity: obtains measurements in the future (future criterion)

Concurrent validity: obtains measurements at the same time (present criterion)

Question 29

What is internal validity?

Answer 29

Are you measuring what you intended to measure?

Question 30

What is external validity?

Answer 30

Generalisability of the research findings