VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY
Introduction -
Validity and reliability are two key: concepts in research that assess a measurement's
quality. Reliability refers to the consistency of a measure, meaning it produces the same results
each time it is used. Validity refers to the accuracy of a measure, meaning it measures what it is
supposed to measure. A good research method is both reliable and valid.
Definition of validity -
Validity is the ability of an instrument to measure what it is supposed to measure.
Example -
● That is, when we ask a set of questions (i.e. develop a measuring instrument) with the
hope that we are tapping the concept, how can we be reasonably certain that we are
indeed measuring the concept we set out to do and not something else?
● We might research whether an educational program increases artistic ability amongst
school children. validity is a measure of whether your research actually measures artistic
ability.
Types of validity -
[Link] validity -
Content validity is a function of how well the dimensions and elements of a concept have been
explained.
Example -
➤Do the questions on an exam accurately reflect what you have learned in the course, or were
the exam questions sampled from only a sub-section of the material?
A test to measure your knowledge of mathematics should not be limited to addition problems.
nor should it include questions about French literature. It should cover the entire range of
appropriate math problems you are trying to measure.
[Link] validity -
Face validity refers to the extent to which a measure 'appears' to measure what it is supposed
to measure
Example -
Does rate of eating really reflect hunger?
Does talking measure extroversion?
➤Does GPA or GAT score really reflect intelligence?
The above example looks valid on the base of face value but in actual it may not. so Just
because a measure has face validity does not ensure that it is a valid measure 6.
[Link] related validity -
The degree to which content on a test (predictor) correlates with performance on relevant
criterion measures (concrete criterion in the "real" world.
Example -
The musical audition is valid to the extent that it distinguishes between singers who sings well
versus those that do not.
Two subtypes -
[Link] validity -
correlating high with another measure already validated.
Example -
we create a new test to measure intelligence. For it to be concurrently valid, it should be highly
associated with existing IQ tests (assuming the same definition of intelligence is used). It means
that most people who score high on the old measure should also score high on the new one,
and vice versa. The two measures may not be perfectly associated, but if they measure the
same or a similar construct, it is logical for them to yield similar results.
[Link] validity -
Criterion validity whereby an indicator predicts future events that are logically related to a
construct is called a predictive validity.
Example -
➤ For instance, we might theorize that a measure of math ability should be able to predict how
well a person will do in an engineering-based profession.
[Link] validity -
Construct validity refers to the degree to which a test or other measure assesses the underlying
theoretical construct it is supposed to measure.
● Example -
An example could be a doctor testing the effectiveness of painkillers on chronic back sufferers.
Every day, he asks the test subjects to rate their pain level on a scale of one to ten pain exists,
we all know that, but it has to be measured subjectively. In this case. construct validity would
test whether the doctor actually was measuring pain and not numbness, discomfort, anxiety or
any other factor.
● Two sab types -
[Link] validity -
Measures that Correlate with other measures that it should be related to.
[Link] validity -
Measures not correlate with measures that it should not correlate with.
Definition of reliability -
Means "repeatability" or "consistency".
A measure is considered reliable if it would give us the same result over and over again.
defination of Stability -
The ability of the measure to remain the same over time.
● two test of stability are
1. test retest stability
[Link] form stability
1. test retest reliability -
Used to assess the consistency of a measure from one time to another.
[Link] form reliability -
Used to assess the consistency of the results of two tests constructed in the same way from the
same content domain.
[Link] consistency of measures -
Internal consistency of measures is indicative of the homogeneity of the items in the measure
that tap the construct.
1. Inter-item Consistency reliability -
This is a test of consistency of respondents' answers to all the items in a measure.
[Link]-Half reliability: -
Split half reliability reflects the correlations between two halves of an instrument.
Bibliography
Anastasi, Anne. (1988). Psychological Testing (6th edition.) London: Mac-Millan.
Freeman, F. S. (1971). Theory and Practice of Psychological Testing. New Delhi: Oxford (India).
References
Guilford, J.P. (1954). Psychometric Methods. New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill.
Cronbach, L.(1951). Coefficient Alpha and the Internal Structure of Tests. Psychometrika, 16,
297-334.
Kaiser, H.F., & Michael, W.B. (1975). Domain Validity and Gernalisability. Educational and
Psychological Measurement, 35, 31-35.
McBurney, D.H. & White, T. L. (2007) Research Methods, New Delhi; Akash Press.
Novick, M.R., & Lewis, C. (1967). Coefficient Alpha and the Reliability of Composite
Measurements. Psychometrika, 32, 1-13.
Stodola, Q. and Stordahl, K. (1972) Basic Educational Tests and Measurement. New Delhi:
Thomson (India).