Research Methods - Validity Flashcards
(13 cards)
validity
whether a measure measure what its supposed to
-ensures that finding are meaningful
internal validity
a measure of whether results are affected by changes in the IV in a cause and effect relationship
types of internal validity
face, construct, concurrent
face validity
a measure of whether it looks subjectively promising that a tool measures what its supposed to
E.G. people who do well in exams often have a high IQ - may not be directly linked but may have a connection
construct validity
a measure of whether a measure successfully measures the concept its supposed to
E.G. does it measure IQ or something related but crucially different?
concurrent validity
whther a measure is in agreement with pre-existing measures that are validated to test fo rthe same/similiar concept
external validity
a measure of whether data can be generalised to other situations outside of the research environment
types of external validity
ecological, population, temporal
ecological validity
whether data is generalisable to the ral world based on experiment conditions and procedures
E.G. lab test control EVs so results are classed as artifcial - low ecological validity
population validity
whether data is generalisable to the population based on representaion in the target group
E.G.
Western
Educated
Individualistic society
Rich
Democratic
temporal validity
how research applies accross time
E.G. changing attitudes to gender roles could lower temporal validity of data from past
how can researchers improve internal validity?
random allocation
blind trials
elimination of EVs
standardisation
pilot tests
comparing measures
operationalise variables
how can researchers improve external validity?
realistic tasks (mundane realism)
unobtrusive
longitudinal studies
large samples
