Week 4 Assignment: Research Validity and Reliability

Week 4 Assignment: Research Validity and Reliability: What are the methods of determining validity? What are the differences between validity and reliability…

Week 4 Assignment: Research Validity and Reliability

Paper details

Due Thursday

Respond to the following in a minimum of 175 words: 

• What are the methods of determining validity?
• What are the differences between validity and reliability?
• What are the 3 means of demonstrating measurement reliability?
• Which of the 3 means of demonstrating measurement reliability is most useful when conducting criminal justice-related research? Why?

Research Validity and Reliability
Determining validity entails measuring a test quality where it determines whether that test measures what it claims to. There are five methods of measuring validity, which entails the method of correlation coefficient. The method encompasses correlating the scores of a test that is newly constructed with those of criterion scores. The method offers the extent of the test’s validity index. The second method is a cross-validation method, which may be a trial of items selected on new groups. The third method is the expectancy table method, where newly constructed test scores are correlated and evaluated with the supervisors’ rating. The fourth method is item analysis, and the last one is the inter-correlation of factor and items analysis method.
Validity refers to how accurate a measure is, whether the results presented do showcase what they are should measure. On the other hand, reliability refers to how consistent a measure is across time, that is, whether there would be a reproduction of results under similar conditions.
There are three means of demonstrating measurement reliability. The first one is test-retest reliability, which measures consistency when one repeats a test on the same sample at a distinct point in time. It is used in measuring things expected to remain constant in a sample. The second one is an internal consistency method that assesses the correlation between several test items intended to measure a similar construct. The third method is inter-rater reliability, which measures the level of agreement between distinct individuals assessing or observing a similar thing. When researchers collect data, it is used to assign scores, categories, or ratings to more than one or only one variable.

Inter-rater reliability is the most useful means when conducting research related to criminal justice since it is more consistent in terms of judgment. In such a research, different researchers would be subjective; hence their perceptions of situations would differ. Since reliable research has the main aim of minimizing subjectivity, it would ensure a different researcher replicates similar results. It would be more efficient since the research mostly involves multiple researchers.