testing validity and reliability in quantitative research

Construct validity and construction of an initial conceptįor example, the construct validity would determine whether the subject has high anxiety score in a survey. Furthermore, it also measures the truthfulness of the research results (Kothari 2012).

Under such an approach, validity determines whether the research truly measures what it was intended to measure. Rooted in the positivist approach of philosophy, quantitative research deals primarily with the culmination of empirical conceptions (Winter 2000). However, the concept of determination of the credibility of the research is applicable to qualitative data. Traditionally, the establishment of instrument validity was limited to the sphere of quantitative research. Importance of determining validity in a research

This includes history, maturation, testing, instrumentation, selection, mortality, diffusion of treatment and compensatory equalization, rivalry, and demoralization. The reason behind determining validity lies in the plethora of threats a research faces. Consequently, measuring behaviours lead to the dilemma of whether to measure what is intended to be measured.įor example, when a study is intended to measure the engagement of employees in an organisation, the survey developed to answer the motivating factors is not considered to be valid.Īlthough the issue of validity cannot be established with complete certainty, it is still favoured to maintain the validity of the measuring instrument. In this case, determining the validity of the measuring instrument (questionnaire) holds the utmost importance (Drost 2011). Measurement is a replicable and systematic process through which an object or instrument is quantified or classified as in the field of social science that deals with the quantification of behaviour.

Testing validity and reliability in quantitative research