VALIDITY ( Sociology Optional)

Introduction

  • Validity is a measure of precision, accuracy and relevance.
  • It reflects the quality of indicators and instruments. It refers to the ability to produce findings that are in agreement with theoretical or conceptual values.
  • Validity is based with the degree of achieving the intended result. A result is valid if it achieves what it was supposed to achieve. Validity determines the success of a study or research. Validity is measured in terms of desired output or goal.

PYQs: Reliability and Validity

  • Utility of Reliability and Validity in Social Research. (03/20)
  • सामाजिक अनुसंधान में विश्वसनीयता और वैधता की उपयोगिता। (03/20)
  • Write short note on Reliability and Validity, keeping sociological perspective in view. In about 150 words. (11/12)
  • समाजशास्त्रीय परिप्रेक्ष्य को ध्यान में रखते हुए विश्वसनीयता और वैधता पर संक्षिप्त टिप्पणी लिखें। (11/12)
  • How can one resolve the issue of reliability and validity in the context of sociological research on inequality? (17/10)
  • असमानता पर समाजशास्त्रीय अनुसंधान के संदर्भ में विश्वसनीयता और वैधता के मुद्दे को कैसे हल किया जा सकता है? (17/10)
  • What is reliability? Explain the different tests available to social science researcher to establish reliability. (2022/10)
  • विश्वसनीयता क्या है? इसे स्थापित करने के लिए सामाजिक विज्ञान शोधकर्ता के लिए उपलब्ध विभिन्न परीक्षणों की व्याख्या कीजिए। (2022/10)

Thinker’s Perspective

  • According to Goode and Hatt, a measuring instrument (scale, test etc) possesses validity when it actually measures what it claims to measure.
  • Validity is a matter of degree rather than an all-or-none matter. – Nunnally 1967 and Messick 1989.
  • Validation is a dynamic, continuing and evolving process. The evidence for or against the validity of the inferences that can be drawn from a measure may change with accumulating evidence. – Messick 1989.

Significance of validity

  • If the results of a study are not deemed to be valid, then they are meaningless to our study. 
  • If it does not measure what we want it to measure, then the results cannot be used to answer the research question, which is the main aim of the study. 
  • These results cannot then be used to generalise any findings and become a waste of time and effort. 
  • It is important to remember that just because a study is valid in one instance it does not mean that it is valid for measuring something else.

Types of Validity

According to Alan Bryman, there are four types of validity-

Internal validity

  • Internal validity refers to the extent to which the research design impacts on the research outcomes.
  • Internal validity checks ensure that the findings of the research have not been affected by instruments or procedures, and that they are the results of the independent variable.

External validity

  • External validity refers to the extent to which research findings can be generalised, and is mostly relevant to explanatory studies.
  • It pertains to generalized aspect and the degree to which the results apply to a larger population.

Measurement validity or construct validity

  • It is concerned with the fact that whether the measure which is being employed actually measures what it claims.

Ecological validity

  • It refers to the fact that how closely a research study mirrors the natural settings of people’s real experiences. A valid research has to be as natural in its settings as it can.

Factors influencing validity

As per Farber, 2001, examples of factors that can threaten validity, are

  • Testing: Being chosen to take part in the study can stimulate respondents to become more familiar with the study object and more knowledgeable than the average population.
  • Sampling: biased selection may lead to unrepresentative samples.
  • Multiple exposures: Exposure to a variety of research instruments might cause an interaction effect and associated problems.
  • Measures: Inappropriate measures may produce unrealistic responses.
  • Unexpected structural changes might occur during the course of the study.
  • Normal developmental changes are to be expected in long temporal studies.
  • Diverse methods may be used over the course of the study.
  • Different sampling procedures may be employed during the course of the study.
  • There may be diverse personnel in the study, with different levels of competence, experience, knowledge and attitude.
  • Changes or alterations in recording techniques may lead to inconsistent records.
  • The respondents are exposed to factors that can affect the information collected in the study.

Testing validity

In quantitative research, there are two ways of checking the validity of an instrument: empirical validation and theoretical validation.

1. Empirical validation

  • In this, the validity of a measure is checked against empirical evidence.
  • Empirical validation tests pragmatic or criterion validity.
  • For example, if an instrument has produced result, indicating that students involved in student union activities do better in their exams, and if this is supported by available data, the instrument in question has pragmatic validity.
  • Again, validity here is assumed if the findings are supported by already existing empirical evidence. In this case the validity is a concurrent validity.

2. Theoretical validation

  • Theoretical or conceptual validation is employed when empirical confirmation of validity is difficult or impossible.
  • The validity of an instrument is ascertained through theoretical or conceptual constructs.

a. Face validity

  • An instrument has face validity if, ‘on the Face of it', it measures what it is expected to measure.
  • For example, a questionnaire aimed at studying sex discrimination has face validity if its questions refer to discrimination experienced by people because they are male or female.

b. Content validity

  • A measure is considered to have content validity if it covers all possible dimensions of the research topic.
  • If a researcher, in a study of religiosity employs a questionnaire only on church attendance, this research instrument has no content validity because it focuses only on religious practice.

c. Construct validity

  • A measure can claim construct validity if its theoretical construct is valid.
  • Validation concentrates here on the validity of the theoretical construct.
  • For example, if an instrument tests the attitudes of two groups of students known to have different views on one issue, and this instrument verifies the known difference, this instrument is said to have construct validity.

Validity in quantitative research

Validity is the property of a research instrument that measures its relevance, precision and accuracy. Validity tells the researcher whether an instrument measures what it is supposed to measure, and whether this measurement is accurate and precise. In general, a measure is expected to be relevant, accurate and precise.

  • Relevance: An instrument is considered to have absolute validity when it measures what is supposed to measure and nothing else - no more, no less. E.g. If a researcher wanted to know the distance between two cities, kilometers or miles would be a relevant instrument.
  • Accuracy: Accuracy refers to the ability to identify the true value of the item in question.
  • Precision: Precision implies accuracy, but it requires that measurements employ the smallest possible measure. For instance, for a dietician wants to measure the weekly weight gain or loss, scales that read whole kilos only (68, 69, 70 kilos, and so on) are not precise enough. They are required to read fractions of a kilo.

Validity in qualitative research

Validity is an integral part of qualitative research. To guarantee validity in their work, qualitative researchers apply a number of measures.

  • Cumulative validation: A study can be validated if its findings are supported by other studies. The researcher can compare the and make a judgment about the validity of the studies.
  • Communicative validation: This entails the involvement of the participants by checking accuracy of data, evaluation of project process changes of goals etc. By employing expert, external audits, and by using triangulation - in order to achieve a multiple perspective and to confirm authenticity.
  • Argumentative validation: It is established through presentation of the findings in such a way that conclusions can be followed.
  • Ecological validation: A study is held to be valid if carried out in the natural environment of the subjects, using suitable methods and taking into consideration the life and conditions of the researched.

Validity in ethnographic research

  • The researcher should refrain from talking in the field but rather should listen more.
  • He should produce notes that are as exact as possible.
  • Providing enough data for readers to make their own inferences and follow those of the researcher.
  • The report should be as complete and as candid as possible.
  • The researcher should seek feedback for his or her findings and presentations in the field or from his or her colleagues.
  • Presentations should be characterised by balance between the subjects and by accuracy in writing. – Wollcott, 1990

Conclusion

  • In most sociological investigations, validity is not clear.
  • While positivists may argue that validity is possible in sociology by the use of scientific methods, interpretivist deny such possibility, as human consciousness cannot be captured using any method.
  • According to Interpretivist, most of the sociologists tend to ignore the problem of validity by spending time accumulating more data and devising more sophisticated theories to claim valid outcomes.
  • Some sociology researchers have suggested that sociological research should be judged on the basis of some different criteria.