reliability/validity

• reliability

  how consistent the results are. if the experiment is repeated, will the same or highly similar results occur again? if the answer is yes, the study possesses high reliability.
• validity


  the extent to which a test measures what it claims to measure.
• face validity


  does it look like it's measuring what it says?
• control 


  how well the experimenter has controlled the variables. important to establish cause and effect relationships.
• test of reliability:

  test-retest method. after a period of time, some participants do the same test and compare.
• mundane realism


  how well an experimental task reflects real life. if a task has high mundane realism it would likely be high in ecological validity.
• ecological validity


  the extent to which you can apply the findings of an experiment to other situations/environments
• if an experiment is lacking in realism we may be unable to generalise
• external validity refers to whether the study is a true representation of behaviour outside of the specific experimental setting
• internal validity refers to things that happen inside the study such as whether we can be certain that it was the IV which caused the change in the DV
• internal validity can be effected by:

  1. lack of mundane realism - leading the participants to act unnaturally
  2. extraneous variables
• 3 types of ext validity

  1. ecological validity
  2. population validity
  3. temporal validity
• population validity


  how well the results can be generalised on a larger population
• temporal validity

  the extent to which you can generalise a study across time.