Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
Scribd
Upload
69 views

Notes On Validity

The document discusses research evaluations in psychology, focusing on validity which refers to the degree conclusions drawn from research are supported by evidence. It covers internal validity, which means a study is free from flaws, and external validity, which refers to how generalizable results are. Key factors that affect validity include researcher bias, lack of controls for extraneous variables, and issues with representing real-world situations and populations. Improving validity involves demonstrating controls and replicating findings in different contexts.

Uploaded by

Siddhant Jhawar '27
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
69 views

Notes On Validity

The document discusses research evaluations in psychology, focusing on validity which refers to the degree conclusions drawn from research are supported by evidence. It covers internal validity, which means a study is free from flaws, and external validity, which refers to how generalizable results are. Key factors that affect validity include researcher bias, lack of controls for extraneous variables, and issues with representing real-world situations and populations. Improving validity involves demonstrating controls and replicating findings in different contexts.

Uploaded by

Siddhant Jhawar '27
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

Research Evaluations in Psychology ~Siddhant Jhawar

1. Validity

Validity is the degree to which empirical evidence and theoretical rationales support the
adequacy and appropriateness of conclusions drawn from some form of assessment.
Researchers have to consider both the internal and external validity of their findings.

Think of Validity as an equation:


Total Validity of a Study = Internal Validity + External Validity.

For your understanding:


Validity is the extent to which the researchers are testing what they claim to be testing.

Research Evaluations in Psychology ~Siddhant Jhawar

2. Internal Validity

The extent to which a study or experiment is free from flaws in its internal structure and its
results can therefore be taken to represent the true nature of the phenomenon.

For your understanding:


The effectiveness of the questions or the procedure used test the causal relationship
between the IV and the DV. If the change in DV was due to an extraneous factor and not the
IV, perhaps due to the lack of controls, the findings lack internal validity.

What Affects Internal Validity?

1. Social Desirability Bias: The bias or tendency of individuals to present themselves in a


manner that will be viewed favorably by others. This is a confound to be controlled for in
certain research, as it often reduces the validity of interviews, questionnaires, and other self-
reports. 

2. Demand Characteristics: In an experiment or research project, cues that may influence or


bias participants’ behavior, for example, by suggesting the outcome or response that the
experimenter expects or desires. Such cues can distort the findings of a study.

3. Investigator Effects: The researcher’s behavior or personal characteristics influence the Ps’
behavior, including the researcher bias. A researcher bias is any unintended errors in the
research process or the interpretation of its results that are attributable to an investigator’s
expectancies or preconceived beliefs. The term essentially is synonymous with
experimenter bias, but it applies to all types of investigative projects rather than to
experimental designs only.

For your understanding:


Researcher bias, or also known as experimenter bias for an experiment, is when the
researcher either consciously or unconsciously influences the results. The Ps’ behavior, for
instance, could be affected by the researcher using more positive body language or tone of
voice when Ps behave as expected to their theory. The researcher could also be biased in
how they interpret Ps’ behaviors and responses.

Tip:
Take any bias and it will always affect a study’s validity and never its reliability.

4. Uncontrolled Extraneous Variables: Lack of controls involves not using a standardized


procedure, failing to identify and eliminate potential EVs, such as by not controlling the
participant variable by failing to randomly allocate Ps to experimental conditions.

Research Evaluations in Psychology ~Siddhant Jhawar

3. External Validity

The extent to which the results of research or testing can be generalized beyond the sample
that generated them. The more specialized the sample, the less likely will it be that the results
are highly generalizable to other individuals, situations, and time periods.

For your understanding:


The extent to which the findings of a study can be generalized beyond the study, its
environment or situation, its sample, and its procedure. This includes the generalization from
the sample to the target population, from the experimental situation to the real world, and
from the experimental behavior to the real life behavior.

What Affects External Validity?

1. Ecological Validity: The extent to which results obtained from research or experimentation
are representative of conditions in the wider world. For example, psychological research
carried out exclusively among university students might have a low ecological validity when
applied to the population as a whole. Ecological validity may be threatened by
experimenter bias, oversimplification of a real-world situation, or naive sampling strategies
that produce an unrepresentative selection of participants.

Recap:
Oversimplification of real-world situation talks to us about how reductionism of a study limits
its ecological validity. This is because of the isolation of IV through excess controls, which is
not a real-world phenomenon.

2. Mundane Realism: The extent to which a controlled study is meaningful and engaging to
participants, eliciting responses that are spontaneous and natural.

Remember:
A study maybe low in ecological validity yet be high in mundane realism, and vice versa. This
is because ecological talks to us about the extent to which the experimental situation
replicates the real life situation; however, mundane realism talks to us about the extent to
which the behavior being observed in an experiment is practiced by the Ps in their daily lives.

3. Population Validity: The extent to which study results from a sample can be generalized to
a larger target group of interest, the population. Generalizability is a component of
population validity.

4. Temporal Validity: The extent to which the findings of a study generalize across time. It is a
form of external validity.

Research Evaluations in Psychology ~Siddhant Jhawar

4. Improving Validity

Internal Validity: Improved by demonstrating a high level of controls over EVs. Controls ensure
that the researcher is measuring any potential causal relationship between the IV and the DV,
and not between any EV and the DV.

Random Allocation: Controls Participant Variables


Standard Procedures: Controls Extraneous Variables
Counterbalancing and Randomization: Controls Order Effects
Single and Double Blind Trials: Control Researcher Bias and Demand Characteristics

External Validity: Improved by demonstrating that findings are generalizable. Replication


ensures the causal relationship observed in the original study and is not just limited to that one
experimental or observational set up.

Ecological Validity: Replicating findings in multiple settings


Population Validity: Replicating findings with diverse groups of people
Temporal Validity: Replicating historical studies
Mundane Realism: Replicating finings using realistic tasks and stimuli

You might also like