Validity

Question 1

What are the main types of validity?

Answer 1

1. Internal validity
2. External validity
3. Ecological validity
4. Temporal validity

Question 2

What is internal validity?

Answer 2

Internal validity refers to whether a study accurately identifies cause-and-effect relationships, ensuring that changes in the dependent variable are due to the independent variable and not confounding variables.

Question 3

What can reduce internal validity?

Answer 3

1. Demand characteristics (participants guessing the study’s aim).
2. Researcher bias (expectations influencing results).
3. Confounding variables (uncontrolled factors affecting results).
4. Poor experimental control (lack of standardization).

Question 4

What is external validity?

Answer 4

External validity refers to how well study results generalize to other people, settings, and times.

Question 5

What can affect external validity?

Answer 5

1. Sample bias
2. Artificial setting
3. Historical context

Question 6

What is ecological validity?

Answer 6

Ecological validity is the extent to which research findings can be applied to real-life settings.

Question 7

How can ecological validity be improved?

Answer 7

1. Conducting studies in natural environments.
2. Using real-world tasks instead of artificial ones.
3. Studying diverse participant groups.

Question 8

What is temporal validity?

Answer 8

Temporal validity refers to whether findings remain accurate over time or if they are outdated due to social or cultural changes.

Question 9

How can validity be improved in psychological research?

Answer 9

1. Standardized procedures – Ensuring consistency in data collection.
2. Random sampling – Avoiding selection bias.
3. Blind and double-blind procedures – Reducing researcher and participant bias.
4. Triangulation – Using multiple methods to confirm findings.