Question

Define and give an example for the following: (Must be pychology related terms and examples)

A. Validity

B. Construct validity

C. Convergent validity

D. External validity.

E. Criterion validity

F. Internal validity

G. Discriminant validity

Answer 1

A)The concept of validity was formulated by Kelly (1927, p. 14) who stated that a test is valid if it measures what it claims to measure.

For example a test of intelligence should measure intelligence and not something else (such as memory).

F)Internal validity refers to whether the effects observed in a study are due to the manipulation of the independent variable and not some other factor. In-other-words there is a causal relationship between the independent and dependent variable.

Internal validity can be improved by controlling extraneous variables, using standardized instructions, counter balancing, and eliminating demand characteristics and investigator effects

D)External validity refers to the extent to which the results of a study can be generalized to other settings (ecological validity), other people (population validity) and over time (historical validity).

External validity can be improved by setting experiments in a more natural setting and using random sampling to select participants.

B)Construct Validity

Construct validity was invented by Cornball and Meehl (1955). This type of validity refers to the extent to which a test captures a specific theoretical construct or trait, and it overlaps with some of the other aspects of validity

Construct validity does not concern the simple, factual question of whether a test measures an attribute. Instead it is about the complex question of whether test score interpretations are consistent with a nomological network involving theoretical and observational terms (Cronbach & Meehl, 1955).

To test for construct validity it must be demonstrated that the phenomenon being measured actually exists. So, the construct validity of a test for intelligence, for example, is dependent on a model or theory of intelligence. Construct validity entails demonstrating the power of such a construct to explain a network of research findings and to predict further relationships.

The more evidence a researcher can demonstrate for a test's construct validity the better. However, there is no single method of determining the construct validity of a test. Instead, different methods and approaches are combined to present the overall construct validity of a test. For example, factor analysis and correlational methods can be used.

C)Convergent Validity

Convergent validity refers to the degree to which scores on a test correlate with (or are related to) scores on other tests that are designed to assess the same construct. For example, if scores on a specific form a aggressiveness test are similar to people's scores on other aggressiveness tests, then convergent validity is high (there is a positively correlation between the scores from similar tests of aggressiveness).

E)In psychometrics, criterion or concrete validity is the extent to which a measure is related to an outcome. Criterion validity is often divided into concurrent and predictive validity. ... In Standards for Educational & Psychological Tests, it states, "concurrent validity reflects only the status quo at a particular time.

G)in psychology, discriminant validity or divergent validity tests whether concepts or measurements that are not supposed to be related are actually unrelated.Let’s say you were researching depression in college students. In order to measure depression (the construct), you use two measurements: a survey and participant observation. If the scores from your two measurements are close enough (i.e. they converge), this demonstrates that they are measuring the same construct. If they don’t converge, this could indicate they are measuring different constructs (for example, anger and depression or self-worth and depression).A specific example can be found in Chou et al. (2005), who studied the Chinese version o