Validity

Question 1

What is validity?

Answer 1

Whether a psychological test, observation or experiment produced a result that is legitimate

Question 2

Internal Validity

Answer 2

Whether the effects observed in an experiment are due to the manipulation of the independent variable and not some other factor
-> demand characteristics are a threat to the internal validity of a study

Question 3

External validity

Answer 3

Ecological validity: generalising the findings of a study to other settings
-> if the task that is used to measure the dependent variable in an experiment is not “like everyday life” (has low mundane realism) then the study has low ecological validity

Question 4

Temporal Validity

Answer 4

Whether findings from a study hold true over time
-> e.g Freud’s concepts such as Penis Envy are considered to be outdated

Question 5

Face Validity

Answer 5

Whether a test, scale, or measure appears “on the face of it” to measure what it is meant to measure

Question 6

Concurrent Validity

Answer 6

When results obtained are close to or match results that of another recognised and well established test