Chapter 9 - Validity & Reliability Flashcards
(25 cards)
What is error another term for?
Invalidity
what does validity ask?
-reliability
- “does my measuring instrument measure what it claims to measure?”
-“is it an accurate or true measure of the phenomenon understudy”
what does reliability ask?
concerns the stability and consistency of measurement
-“if the study were repeated, would the instrument yield stable and uniform measures?”
what are some reasons for lack of validation studies in criminal justice?
-little professional esteem in replication
-lack of complexity in technique
-design faults in original study
-unfavorable climate
-interjurisdictional disputes
-tradition
what is face validity?
-simplest measurement
-“does the measuring instrument appear, at face value, to be measuring what I’m attempting to measure?”
-ex: the Rosenberg self esteem scale
what is content validity?
-examine each item (or question), the content of the instrument, to judge whether each item measures the concept in question
-item-by-item analysis
what is construct (concept) validity?
-theoretical and philosophical
-asks if the instrument measures what it’s been designed to measure
what is convergent-discriminant validation?
-different measures of the same concept should yield similar results (convergence)
-same measures of different concepts should yield different results (discrimination)
what is pragmatic validity?
-asks “does it work?”
-two types: concurrent and predictive validity
what is concurrent validity?
whether the measure enhances the ability to gauge present characteristics of the item in question
what is predictive validity?
ability to accurately forecast future events or conditions
what do triangulation methods assume?
it’s relatively hopeless to attempt to demonstrate the validity or reliability of one measurement using only one method
what tom cruise movie did lehman mention in class?
minority report- crimes could be predicted before they occurred
what is reliability?
-stable and consistent replication of findings on repeated measurement
-two types: stability and consistency
what is stability of measurement determined by?
(Assuming condition haven’t changed) a respondent giving the same answer to the same question on second testing
what is consistency of measurement determined by?
set of items used to measure are highly related and measuring the same concept
what three primary methods are used to demonstrate reliability?
-test-retest
-multiple forms
-split-half techniques
what is the test-retest method of determining reliability?
the same instrument is administered twice to the same population and if the results are the same, stability of measurement is assumed
what is the potential problem of test-retest?
same test and same respondent could mean a testing effect
what is multiple forms (related to reliability)?
administration of alternate forms of the instrument to the same group (disguised test-retest)
what is the split-half technique (related to reliability)
each half of a set of questions or scale is analyzed as if it were a separate scale
-no testing effects
what is drug use forecasting (DUF)?
NIJ research program that asks volunteer arrestees to provide urine specimens to test for drug usage
what replaced DUF in 1998?
ADAM (arrestee drug abuse monitoring)
-discontinued by George W Bush administration
what’s entailed in the reliability statistic?
-several different types available with spss procedure “scale”…“reliability analysis”
-most commonly used is Cronbach’s alpha
-ranges from 0 to +1.00 (similar to correlation coefficient but no negative values)
-looking for higher than .7
