Validity

Question 1

What is internal validity ?

Answer 1

Concerns about what is going on within a study.

Question 2

Examples of Internal Validity ?

Answer 2

1) Investigator effects - anything an investigator does which has an effect on a participants performance other than what was intended.

2) Confounding variables - is a variable in an experiment that varies systematically with the IV which means conclusions cannot be drawn about what caused changes in the DV

Question 3

What is external validity ?

Answer 3

the extent to which results from a study can be applied (generalized) to other situations, groups, or events

Question 4

3 factors that make up external validity ?

Answer 4

1) Historical validity - ability to generalise the research beyond the time period of the study.

2) Population validity - whether you can reasonably generalise the findings from your sample to a larger group of people (the population).

3) Ecological validity - Ability to generalise the research beyond the particular setting

Question 5

What to think about when assessing if a study has high or low ecological validity ?

Answer 5

• How the DV is measured
• Whether participants knew their behaviour was being assessed.

Question 6

Assessing Validity (2 methods)

Answer 6

1) Face validity - concerns the issue of whether a self report measure looks like it is measuring what the researcher intended to measure.

2) Concurrent validity - involves comparing the current method with a previously validated method on the same topic.

Question 7

Improving validity

Answer 7

• Questions should be revised if they have poor face validity.
• Change research design to reduce bias.

Question 8

What is mundane realism ?

Answer 8

How a study mirrors the real world .