Validity And Reliability: External Validity + Assessing (checking) Validity Flashcards
What is external validity about
Generalising the findings after the study
How can ecological validity be improved
- change the setting to something more natural/everyday (conduct in field)
- mundane realism
How can population validity be improved
- use representative sampling method (stratified/random)
How can Historical validity be improved
Replicate the study in the current day
What is mundane realism
The degree to which the materials and procedures involved in an experiment are similar to events that occur in the real world
What’s an important thing to remember about mundane realism
Don’t make assumptions that researching in the field has high mundane realism and therefore ecological validity
—> task might not be everyday thing
What is a psychological test
A task or set of tasks that measures some aspect of human behaviour
What are the 5 methods of assessing validity
- Face validity
- Predictive validity
- content validity
- concurrent validity
- construct validity
What is face validity
- whether the test appears (at face value) to measure what it claims
- hence its subjective —> least sophisticated measure of validity
- tests where the purpose is clear (even to naive respondents) = high face validity
What is predictive validity
- the degree to which a test accurately forecasts a future outcome on a more broadly related topic
- Do the findings apply in different and more varied situations?
- e.g. do those with high IQ scores gain higher grades in exams
What is content validity
- this objectively checks whether the method of measuring behaviour is accurate and decides whether its a fair test which achieves the aims of the study
- can be carried out by asking an expert in that specific area of behaviour to check if the test is valid
What is concurrent validity
- Validating a measurement by comparing it with an established one that has known validity
- if similar results occur on both tests = new test has concurrent validity
- if not = new test —> redesigned and carried out again
What is construct validity
- looks at whether the overall results reflect the phenomena (external validity)
- achieved by checking the existing definitions of the behaviour being studied and redesigning the test if it measures a different construct
- most sophisticated test of validity
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