What is the meaning of reliability?
Refers to the consistency of research
What is ‘internal reliability’?
Measures the extent of which a test or procedure is consistent within itsef
What is ‘external reliability’?
Measures the consistency from one occasion to the other
What are the two ways to measure internal reliability?
- Inter-observer Reliability
Researchers should produce similar test results, or similar observations to each other - Split-half Method
Compare participants’ performance on 2 halves of the test
What are the two ways to measure external reliability?
- Test-Retest
Take the same test on different occasions - Replication
Replicate the same experiment, but with different participants
What is meant by validity?
Refers to whether it is testing what it claims to be testing
What is ‘internal validity’?
The tool is measuring what it is intending to measure
What is ‘external validity’?
Findings can be generalised beyond the context of the research situation
What are the two ways to measure internal validity?
- Face Validity
Does our measuring tool appear to be doing what it should? - Concurrent Validity
New measure test scores are correlated from those from the first established valid test
What are the two ways to measure external validity?
- Temporal Validity
Do our findings endure over time or are they era-dependent? - Replication
Doing experiment again with different participants and a more real-life setting
What are the two ways to improve validity when conducting an experiment?
- Single-Blind Technique
Make sure the participants don’t know the aim of the experiment - Double-Blind Technique
Hire an experimenter to do the experiment for you, without knowing the aim, thus participants and the experimenter do not know the aim of the experiment
