Reliability/validity

• Reliability means that the data collected is replicable
• Questionnaires can be checked for reliability by using test retest
• Observations can be made more reliable by making using more than one observer to compare results
• Experiments can be made more reliable by standardising the procedure
• Validity is when the research measures what it claims to measure
• Internal validity - the effects are due to the IV
• Ecological validity - the findings can be generalised to other situations
• Population validity - findings generalised to the target population
• Predictive validity - test can accurately predict behaviour
• Concurrent validity - new test has similar results to a previous test
• External validity - results generalised to other places / times
• Task validity - results generalised to real life activities