Validity Flashcards
what is validity
the extent to which a study measures what it intends to measure
what is internal validity
refers to whether the effects observed in an experiment are due to the manipulation of the IV and not another factor
what is external validity
refers to how well you can generalise from research participants to people, places and times outside of the study
examples of factors affecting internal validity
social desirability bias, demand characteristics, investigator effects, mundane realism, uncontrolled extraneous variables
what is mundane realism
type of external validity, refers to how realistic the task is meaning how often is the task done in everyday life
what is ecological validity
a type of external validity, how well you can generalise a study to alternative environments
what is population validity
a type of external validity, how well the sample of participants used can be generalised to a population as a whole
what is temporal validity
a type of external validity, the extent to which the findings and conclusions of study are valid when we consider the differences and progressions that come with time, are they still generalisable?
two methods to assess validity
- face validity
- concurrent validity
what is face validity
whether a test, scale or measure appears to measure what it is supposed to measure
what is concurrent validity
demonstrated by a test when the results obtained are very close to, or match those obtained on another recognised test measuring the same concept
how to test concurrent validity
carry out a correlation between the scores of participants on both tests - 0.8 or above is considered to be a valid test
5 ways to improve internal validity
- random allocation
- standard procedures
- counterbalancing
- single/double blind trials
- peer review
how to improve ecological validity
replicate findings in multiple settings
how to improve population validity
replicate findings with diverse groups of people
