RESEARCH METHODS - Validity
- Created by: EmilyEther
- Created on: 27-03-19 15:20
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- Validity
- General
- def: the extent to which researchers actually measured / observed what they set out to measure / observe
- often difficult due to extraneous / confounding variables
- not much control in design of study
- often difficult due to extraneous / confounding variables
- def: the extent to which researchers actually measured / observed what they set out to measure / observe
- Experiments
- IV - variable changed / manipulated by researcher (or changes naturally)
- researchers need to make sure that what they are measuring is the IV not any other variables (extraneous / confounding)
- Types of validity
- INTERNAL: what goes on within study
- factors affecting this: investigator effects, demand characteristics, confounding & extraneous variables, social desirability, operationalised poorly
- EXTERNAL: when goes on after study, how study is used, conclusions, what you can do with results + conclusions
- POPULATION: generalise findings to other people
- culture: study connected to one particular one? - can't be generalised
- eg. Ainsworth - couldn't be applied to German children
- individ / collectivist cultures, socio economic groups, ethnicity, religion, age, gender
- culture: study connected to one particular one? - can't be generalised
- TEMPORAL (historical): time period
- Zimbardo: 70s = less conforming. identification not shown in other periods
- ECOLOGICAL: different settings (real life)
- NOT MUNDANE REALISM - this is about the task / procedure and how realistic is it
- measuring it: think about DV and how it is being measured, depends on type of exp
- field: high eco val as they are doing task they would normally do
- INTERNAL: what goes on within study
- Assessing validity
- FACE: on the face of it, does this research help the researcher to discover what they set out to do?
- does the study feel right?
- CONCURRENT: compare method you use with a method used previously on same topic
- look at results of each, is there a correlation?
- FACE: on the face of it, does this research help the researcher to discover what they set out to do?
- Improving validity
- if poor face val, questions should be revised so they relate more to the topic
- if low concurrent val, researcher should remove questions that may be irrelevant
- int and ext val: better research design needed
- General
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