validity Flashcards
research methods
What is validity?
Refers to whether a researcher is measuring what they’re set out to measure. The aim of the study should be kept in mind
What is internal validity and what 3 places is it used?
This type of validity concerns the research setting
In experiments, in questionnaires/interviews and in observations
Where is internal validity in experiments?
If there are demand characteristics or extraneous variables the researcher might not end up measuring what they are trying to. In this case validity can be improved by trying to minimise these factors.
Where is internal validity in questionnaires/interviews?
Questions are not valid if they don’t help the researcher achieve their aim, e.g. a question on the work of Charles Dickens would not be a valid question in the context of a Psychology exam.
Where is internal validity in observations?
If the researcher doesn’t end up observing the behaviours they intended to their measures lack validity. Orne and Holland argue that Milgram’s controlled observation lacked internal validity as it didn’t actually measure obedience (they argued that the participants were just ‘playing along’ with the procedure).
What is external validity?
The type of validity concerned with whether the researcher is measuring what they intended to, but in this case whether what was measured in the research setting is representative of behaviours in the real world.
What are the three types of external validity?
Ecological validity
Population validity
Temporal validity
What is ecological validity?
The extent to which the research setting represents the real life setting which the researchers are aiming to investigate. For example, many studies on memory (e.g. Peterson and Peterson) are said to have low ecological validity as the type of tasks that participants do in these studies bear no resemblance to how they would use their memory in the real world.
What is population validity?
The extent to which the findings apply to groups of people other than the participants. For example, Asch used an all male sample to study conformity. the findings of this study are not a valid measure of how likely women are to conform (we know this as later research showed females to have higher rates of conformity to men).
What is temporal validity?
The extent to which the findings apply to other time periods. Asch’s findings are said to lack temporal validity as the study took place in ‘McCarthyism’ era where conformity was highly valued and encouraged. It has been argued that the same results would not be found nowadays.
How is validity assessed?
In order to assess whether a method is valid it is often enough to simply use common sense to determine whether the researcher is really measuring what they are trying to.
What other techniques might be used to assess validity?
Face validity
Content validity
Construct validity
Predictive validity
Concurrent validity
What is face validity?
This simply involves looking at the questions or measure and making a judgement. At face value do the questions or measure seem to be measuring what they’re supposed to?
What is content validity?
This is similar to face validity in that it involves examining the questions or measure to see if they’re measuring what they’re supposed to. This method differs from face validity in that experts are sought out to check the questions. For instance, a psychiatrist might be used to check the validity of questions designed to measure anxiety levels.
What is construct validity?
This also involves scrutinising the test or measure to see if it’s testing what it’s supposed to. This involves looking at how well the measure or questions link to the key underlying constructs. For example, if a questionnaire was developed to measure loneliness, we would be looking at how well the questions specifically relate to the construct of loneliness.
