validity

• what is validity

  the property of being true, correct and in conformity with reality
• what are the different types of validity

  face validity

  mundane realism

  concurrent validity

  ecological validity

  temporal/historical validity

  predicative validity

  population validity
• what is face validity

  where a measure is scrutinised to determine if it appears to measure what it is supposed to measure
• what is mundane realism

  the extent to which the tasks which the Ps are asked to do in the study is similar to tasks in real life
• what is concurrent validity

  the extent to which a psychological measure relates to an exisiting similar measure
• what is ecological validity

  the extent to which findings from a research study can be generalised to other settings and situations
• what is temporal/historical validity


  the extent to which findings from a research study can be generalised to to other historical times and eras
• what is predicative validity


  the extent to which a test/ theory predicts future behaviour
• what is population validity 


  the extent to which the sample of Ps is representative of the wider target population
• what are the two categories of validity

  internal validity

  external validity
• what is internal validity


  how well a study is done- especially whether if it avoids confounding and extrataneous variables
• what is external validity


  the extent to which the conclusions of a study can be applied outside the context of that study- how well it can be generalised to and across other situations
• how can you assess validity

  by using face validity and concurrent validity
• how can you improve validity of the experimental method

  use a control group to compare with the experimental group

  standardise procedures

  use a single or double- blind procedure
• how can you improve validity of the observational method

  covert observation is likely to yield greater validity than overt observation

  behavioural categories need to be specific, not ambiguous and mutually exclusive
• how can you improve validity of self-report studies

  avoid leading , double- barrelled questions and ambiguous questions

  avoid using double negatives in questions

  include a lie- scale in order to assess social desirability bias

  get the Ps to submit data anonymously
• how can you improve the validity of qualitative methods

  triangulation- if a number of different sources are looked at and they all point to the same conclusion then the conclusion is valid

  inclusion of direct quotes to support what the researcher is saying