Reliability and Validity

• Concurrent validity


  A means of establishing validity by comparing an existing test or questionnaire with the one you are interested in.
• Ecological validity


  The ability to generalise a research effect beyond the particular setting in which it is demonstrated to other settings.
• External validity


  The degree to which a research finding can be generalised to other settings (ecological validity); to other groups of people (population validity); over time (historical validity).
• Face validity


  The extent to which test items look like what the test claims to measure.
• Generalisation

  Applying the findings of a study to the population.
• Internal validity


  The degree to which an observed effect was due to the experimental manipulation rather than other factors such as confounding or extraneous variables.
• Inter-observer reliability (inter-rater reliability)


  The extent to which there is agreement between two or more observers involved in observations of a behaviour.
• Mundane realism


  The degree to which experiences encountered in the research environment mirror those in the real world.
• Mundane realism


  Refers to how a study mirrors the real world. The research environment is realistic to the degree to which experiences encountered in the research environment will occur in the real world.
• Reliability

  Is consistency- the consistency of measurements. We would expect any measurement to produce the same data if taken on successive occasions.
• Social desirability bias


  A distortion in the way people answer questions – they tend to answer questions in such a way that presents themselves in a better light.
• Temporal validity


  Concerning the ability to generalise a research effect beyond the particular time period of the study.
• Test-retest reliability


  The same test or interview is given to the same participants on two occasions to see if the same results are obtained.
• Validity


  Whether an observed effect is a genuine one.