Tuesday, May 26, 2009

How can you evaluate the validity of an investigation?

The validity of an investigation is an indication of how logically or factually sound the investigation is.


The following four factors can be evaluated to determine the validity of an investigation:



  • Reliability: In order to be reliable, an investigation must have measurements that are stable and repeatable. When measurements are repeated, the results should be similar. 


  • Internal Validity: Internal validity means that measurements of independent and dependent variables should be reliable (see above). There should also be a strong causal link between the independent variables and the dependent variables.


  • External Validity: External validity means that the investigation can be generalized to other people and situations. 


  • Construct Validity: Construct validity refers to how well the concepts of the investigation correspond to the measurements that are used. 

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