Validity Flashcards
What is validity in research?
Is it true, accurate, or believable
What is internal validity?
Study is conducted with sufficient controls of IV and DV
What does internal validity question?
The cause and effect relationship between the change of the IV and the observed change of the DV
What is social desirability bias?
Participants hide their genuine opinion/behaviours to look good
What are demand characteristics?
Participants think they have discovered the aim and behave in a way they believe will support the researcher’s theory
What are investigator effects?
Researcher’s behaviour influences participant’s behaviour, including bias
What are uncontrolled extraneous variables?
Lack of control, doesn’t use standardised procedures, controls participant variables or identifies and eliminates extraneous variables
What is external validity?
Can the study’s findings be generalised beyond the study to the real world
What is ecological validity?
Extent the findings of a study can be generalised to alternative environments
What is mundane realism?
Extent the task used in an experiment is similar to real-world experiences
What is population validity?
Extent to which the sample used is representative of the target population
What is temporal validity?
Extent to which findings can be generalised to other time periods
What is face validity?
Does the test appear to measure what it claims to be measuring
What is criterion validity?
Confidence in the validity of a test increases if data can be compared to another measure of the same variable and identify a correlation
What is concurrent validity?
Extent to which data from a newly created test is similar to an established test of the same variable conducted at the same time
What indicates high concurrent validity?
Strength of correlation is +0.8 or higher
What is predictive validity?
Extent to which performance on a test can predict future performance, outcomes, or behaviour
How can internal validity be improved?
Demonstrating high level of control over variables
What is random allocation?
A method to improve internal validity by randomly assigning participants to different groups
What are standard procedures?
Consistent methods used to improve internal validity
What is counterbalancing?
A technique used to control for order effects in a study
What are single and double-blind trials?
Methods to prevent bias by keeping participants and/or researchers unaware of group assignments
What is peer review?
A process to improve validity by having other experts evaluate the research
What is external validity?
Improved by demonstrating that findings are generalisable
External validity refers to the extent to which the results of a study can be generalized to, or have relevance for settings, people, times, and measures other than the one used in the study.
How does replication improve external validity?
Ensures cause and effect relationship is not just limited to one experimental/observational set up
Replication helps to confirm that the findings are consistent and reliable across different studies.
What effect does replicating with multiple settings have?
Improves ecological validity
Ecological validity refers to the extent to which research findings can be generalized to real-life settings.
What is the impact of replicating with diverse groups?
Improves population validity
Population validity is concerned with the extent to which findings can be generalized to and across the population.
What does replicating historical studies improve?
Improves temporal validity
Temporal validity pertains to whether the findings of a study can be generalized across different time periods.
What is the effect of replicating using real-world tasks?
Improves mundane realism
Mundane realism refers to how closely the materials and procedures of a study resemble the real-world situations they are intended to represent.
