Validity: Critical Thinking About A Research Project

Validity

A research is valid to the world when a number of key concepts are used in the research design. The document must be organized and planned according to the criteria used in the field. Some important concepts to know include: validity, variable, operationalization, sample, measurement, measurement error, causation, plausible rival explanations, hypothesis, reliability, and unit of analysis. The researcher must learn how to apply each key concept in an effort to make the research study valuable. These concepts will be reviewed individually to be able to understand how to apply them when writing a research paper.

It is significant to have validity in research. Validity is the best approximation of the truth of a given proposition, inference, or conclusion. It refers to the many conclusions reached about the quality of the different parts of the research methodology. It provides concrete data about the cause and effect construct. There are four main types of validity: conclusion, internal, construct, and external. External validity determines if you can generalize the causal relationship of the study to other persons, places, or times. The researcher can make some claims that the research findings have implications for other groups and individuals in other settings at other times. Construct validity revises if you operationalized well the ideas of cause and effect when there is a causal relationship in the study. Internal validity is use to determine if the relationship is causal when you can make a claim that the program or treatment in the study caused the outcomes of the study. Conclusion validity is use to determine if there is a relationship between the cause and effect. All four types of validity are important in r...

... middle of paper ...

...in research is valuable and needed. Researchers must dedicate time and effort in understanding the key concepts of research to have reliability and validity. From the beginning to end of a research, the researcher must organize the paper in a matter that is consistent with the methods. The task is not always easy to manage, however if the person writing the research understands the principles and key notes towards writing a research then the results and time spent to accomplish the goal will be positive. Therefore, one must spent time learning and utilizing the concepts according to the study being written.

Works Cited

Meltzoff, J. (2008). Critical thinking about research: Psychology and related fields. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Trochim, W., & Donnelly, J. (2008). The research methods knowledge base, 3rd ed. Mason, OH: Cengage.