Validity

Question 1

Is a lab experiment valid?

Answer 1

Artificial tasks or settings lack validity and results can’t be generalised to real life. Low ecological validity. Participants are aware they are in a study, so behaviour might not be natural.

Question 2

Is a field experiment valid?

Answer 2

Some tasks in field experiments may not be very accurate to real life. Also, there are a lot of extraneous variables that might mean we don’t know if the dependent variable was due to the independent variable. Higher ecological validity than lab experiment.

Question 3

Are interviews and questionnaires valid?

Answer 3

Researchers may be investigating a very narrow aspect of human behaviour, so participants’ behaviour is reduced to a single score. We don’t get much insight into other aspects of their behaviour. People might lie for desirability.

Question 4

Are observations valid?

Answer 4

They could lack validity as participants may know they are being observed (overt) or are in a controlled observation.

Question 5

Is qualitative data valid?

Answer 5

Qualitative methods are designed to get detailed information. High validity. However, results can be subjective and hard to analyse.

Question 6

What does it mean if results are valid?

Answer 6

The results are accurate; they measure what they’re supposed to be measuring

Question 7

What does population validity mean?

Answer 7

If your sample can be generalised to the entire population, there would be high population validity.

Question 8

What is ecological validity?

Answer 8

How far findings of a research study are able to be generalised to real-life settings,