VALIDITY

Nota:

• the degree to which something measures what it claims to.

1. Internal Validity

   Nota:

   • this is concerned with what goes on INSIDE the study.
   1. Face validity

      Nota:

      • very basic form of validity in which you determine is a measure ''appears'' (on the face of it) to measure what is is supposed to measure.
   2. Concurrent Validity

      Nota:

      • assesses validity by correlating scores on a test with another test known to be valid.
   3. Predictive Validity

      Nota:

      • assess validity by predicting how well a test predicts future behaviour.
2. External Validity

   Nota:

   • this often affected by the internal validity- it is the degree to which a research finding can be generalised.
   1. Ecological Validity

      Nota:

      • the place where the research was conducted. it may not be appropriate to generalise from the research setting to ther settings, most importantly to everyday life.
   2. Population Validity

      Nota:

      • the people who are studied. if a research study involved just students or all men or only Americans etc. then it may not be appropriate to generalise the findings to all people.
   3. Historical / Temporal Validity

      Nota:

      • the historical period. if a study was conducted in the 1950's it may not be appropriate to generalise the findings to people today because many other factors affect behaviour now.