Compare and Contrast the Characteristics of External, Internal, and Construct Validity

Validity refers to whether the research conducted is what it intended to be. Validity involves dependability, which means, a valid measure must be reliable. But, reliability doesn’t have to link to validity, a reliable measure is not required to be valid.

Give a one-sentence definition of external validity. Then consider a study looking at the drinking habits of 19-21 year-olds on a college campus. Describe the issues that might arise with the generalizability of this study, with respect to persons and situations.

It is possible for a measure to have one and not all of the above criteria’s. If it lacks one of the measurements the chances of the study/research lacking credibility are higher.

Now, it is time to give an overview of some of the design threats to construct validity. If the researcher did not define the construct efficiently than it can lead to the inadequate preoperational explication of constructs threat (Trochim & Donnelly, 2008). Next, is the mono-operation bias, which is the use of the study program only one time and one place (Trochim & Donnelly, 2008). Third, the mono-method bias is the use of any one measure or observation (Trochim & Donnelly, 2008). Finally, the confounding constructs and the levels of constructs threat (Trochim & Donnelly, 2008). Overall, this threat to construct validity is a labeling issue like some of the other threats to construct validity (Trochim & Donnelly, 2008). However, there are more design threats than listed in this paper to construct

External validity refers to the degree to which the results of a study can be generalized to other individuals, setting, and times.

205). Like reliability, validity has several aspects including face validity, content validity, criterion-related validity, and construct validity (Polit & Beck, 2014). “Face validity refers to whether an instrument looks as though it is measuring the appropriate construct” (Polit & Beck, 2014, p.205). Content validity regards the degree to which an instrument has an appropriate sample of items for the construct being measured (Polit & Beck, 2014). Criterion-related validity examines the relationships between scores on an instrument and an external criterion; the instrument is valid if its scores correspond strongly with scores on the criterion (Polit & Beck, 2014). Construct validity most concerns quality and measurements; the questions most often asked are “What is this instrument really measuring? And Does it validly measure the abstract concept of interest?” (Polit & Beck, 2014,

Validity refers to that measuring tool or approaches can accurately measure things needed to be measured. It can be considered as an extent that measured results reflect investigative contents. Measured results more tend to be identical, validity will be higher, vice versa. Guba and Lincoln (1981) argued that whole social research must include invalidity in order to acquire worthwhile data within both the rationalistic paradigm (quantitative research) and naturalistic paradigm (qualitative research). Some factors can determine the level of validity, which include bias, construct

There are differences among face, construct, and criterion-related validity. Face validity assesses a task under evaluation. A group of subjective experts evaluate face validity (Maribo, Pedersen, Jensen, & Nielsen, 2016). Face validity can be utilized to motivate stakeholders within an organization. If stakeholders are not supportive of the results from face validity they will become disengaged. For example, when measuring the level of professionalism during the hiring process questions should relate to different levels of professionalism. If not stakeholders will not be motivated to give their opinion and the true assessment of the hiring process will not be achieved. “Face validity considers the relevance of a test as it appears to testers”

(181) For example working on an experiment that has to do with real life situation would have less threats. However Internal and external goes together, because internal is establish, before external is an issue. (181) There are about 12 threats to internal validity and reliant on the end result the test could be biases or completely wrong.

This study will use various forms of validation to make sure that the information is accurate and valid. For the qualitative data, the study will use homogeneity and convergent validity. With homogeneity, the instrument will measure only one construct. Moreover, the use of convergent validity will show that the instrument is strongly correlated with other instruments measuring similar variables. For phase two, the study will use member check to insure validity. The collected data will be checked by other researchers and the participants to remove any

According to Mugenda (1999) validity shows the degree to which the instrument measures the constructs under investigation. Cohen et al (1992) refers to content validity as the extent to which the instrument measures what it purports to measure. According to Somekh & Cathy (2005), validity is the degree by which the sample of test items represents the content the test is designed to measure. There are three types of validity tests: content validity, criterion validity and related construct validity. Content validity is the degree to which the instrument fully assesses or measures the construct of interest. Content validity, which is employed by this study, is a measure of the degree to which data collected using a particular instrument

b. Data shows validity when the test or tool used to obtain the data is believable. Two different ways of determining validity is internal and external. Internal research will show whether the research tool used has measured what the research determined from the beginning it would measure. External research can be used to generalize what the research found into other areas that are similar to the research. A researcher can use three methods to find the validity of a test. The content method decides what content is going to be measured in the research. The construct method involves the researcher verifying a theory behind the research question and then whether the test is adequate to give valid data. A third method is the criterion related method in which

The meaning of our study rests on how we objectively observe the construct or behavior of interest. Thus, developing a reliable and valid set of procedures for measuring our variables is crucial for the

Reliability is defined, within psychometric testing, as the stability of a research study or measure(s). Reliability can be examined externally, Inter-rater and Test-Retest, as well as internally; which is seen in internal consistency reliability methods.

In data collection, reliability and validity of the data are important considerations, which a researcher should pay attention to. Reliability, in this case, can be described as the degree to which the data collection process is consistent. On the other hand, validity arises when variables measure what they were intended to measure. And, this, usually, happens when the data collection process has been reliable.