Validity

Question 1

What is validity?

Answer 1

• How accurate the findings in a psychological study is.

Question 2

What is internal validity?

Answer 2

Questions the cause and effect relationship between the change the researcher made to the IV and measured change in the DV if the change in DV was influenced by any other factor [extraneous variables] that is not the IV- the findings lack internal validity

Question 3

What is social desirability bias

Answer 3

• Participants hide their true behaviour and instead act in a more socially acceptable way to look good

Question 4

What are demand characteristics?

Answer 4

• When the participants think they have found the aim of the experiment and they then try and alter their benaviour to fit the needs of the research

Question 5

What is investigator effects?

Answer 5

• When the researchers behaviour [ or personal characteristics influences the participants behaviour]

Question 6

What is researcher bias

Answer 6

• When the researcher either consciously or not influences the results e.g. Body language / tone of voice

Question 7

Uncontrolled extraneous variables

Answer 7

• Causes a lack of internal validity
• lack of control because is doesn’t use standardised procedures [ not randomly assigning participants to groups ]

Question 8

What is external validity?

Answer 8

• Questions it a study’s findings can be generalised beyond the study

Question 9

What is ecological validity

Answer 9

• The extent to which the findings of any particular study can be generalised to alternative environments. (how well the results of a study apply to real-life situation)

Question 10

What is mundane realism?

Answer 10

The extent to which the taste used in an experimental set-up are similar to real-world settings

Question 11

Population validity?

Answer 11

The sample used in the study is representative of the target population. [E.g., age, gender ethnicity, educational levels ]

Question 12

What is temporal validity?

Answer 12

The extent to which the findings or a study can be generalised to other time periods

Question 13

How to assess validity

Answer 13

• Face validity: does the test appear to measure what it claims to be measure
• concurrent validity: how well the results of a test or study match up with results from a similar test conducted at the same time.

Question 14

How to improve internal validity?

Answer 14

• Random allocation - controls participant variables
  -standardised procedures: controls extraneous variables
• counterbalancing: controls order effect
• single and doublo-blind trails: controls researcher bias and demand characteristics
• peer reviews - controls researcher bias

Question 15

How to improve external validity?

Answer 15

• By demonstrating that findings generalisable
• replication ensures the cause- and effect relation snip observed in the original study is not just limited to that one a perimeter set up.
  -Replicating findings in multiple settings improves ecological validity
  -Replicating finance with diverse groups of people improve population validity
  -Replicating historical studies improve temporal validity
  -Replicating finances using real task improves mundane realism