Reliability and Validity Flashcards
What is internal reliability?
Describes the internal consistency of a measure, such as whether the different questions in a questionnaire are all measuringthe same construct.
What is the split-half method in terms of checking internal reliability?
A method of estimating reliability by dividing a test into two halves and measuring the correlation between the scores of each half.
What is item analysis in terms of checking internal reliability?
Performance on each item is compared with the overall score. a good positive correlation suggests high internal reliability.
What is external reliability?
The ability of a test to yield the same results both over time and from each individual who takes it.
What is test re-test in terms of checking external reliability?
The same person is tested twice over a period of time. similar score demonstrates high external reliability.
What is inter-observer reliability in terms of checking external reliability?
The ratings from more that one person are correlated to check for agreement. If correlation is low, it may be due to poorly designed behavioural categories or poorly trained observers.
What its inter-interviewer reliability in terms of checking external reliability?
Different interviewers should produce the same result when interviewing the same person, or the same interviewer should produce the same result when interviewing the same person on 2 different occasions. If the results are not the same, it suggests that the interviewer are behaving differently and may need more careful training.
What is replication in terms of checking external reliability?
Any research study should produce similar findings if repeated.
What is internal validity?
Internal validity describes the extent to which a study measures what it intends to measure. It is about how other variables are controlled and the extent that we can be certain that any changes in the DV were die to the manipulation of the IV rather than the extraneous variables. The more controlled an experiment is, the higher the internal validity.
What is experimental realism in terms of affecting experimental realism?
When a participant does not believe in the experimental setup and they may simply act so the results are meaningless. The higher the experimental realism, the more a participant is involved with the task as if it were real.
What is mundane realism in terms of affecting affecting experimental realism?
Things that are similar to everyday activities. For example, memorising a list of nonsense words lacks mundane realism whereas a list of French verbs being learned is higher in mundane realism.
What is face validity in terms of assessing internal validity?
The items look like they measure what the test says it measures.
What is external validity?
External validity describes the extent to which the findings from a study can be. generalised to everyday life and situations other than the context of the study.
What is ecological validity?
The extent to which the findings of a study can be generalised from the setting in which it was conducted, to other settings.
What is population validity?
A study may use a restricted group of participants, such a university students. This limits how much the findings can be generalised because university students are likely to have unique characteristics (e.g. Hugh intelligence).
