Introduction
Research instruments are basically the methods used to collect the data for any research. Researchers choose a particular research instrument that helps them achieve their research goals. Checking the validity of research instruments after research is an important aspect of any research. The word validity here means that the instrument has measured what it was designed to measure. In research, there are many ways to test the validity of any research instrument. Many students do not know about those ways and hence fail to check their results’ validity. Keeping this in view, the centre of today’s discussion is testing the validity of research instruments. There will be a mention of all the tools and tests you can use. Along with this, this article will also mention some of the types of validity for better understanding. So, let’s start our discussion with the question below.
What does the validity of the research instrument mean?
Researchers use different research instruments to conduct research. Sometimes, those instruments produce desired, and sometimes they do not. So, the term validity of the research instrument explains how well the collected data covers the whole study area. In simple words, you can say validity means “measuring what is intended to measure.”
Measuring the validity of research instruments is of utmost importance. It is because it tells you about the accuracy and the correctness of the results. It also tells whether the research instrument has measured what it was supposed to measure or not. So, it is an important aspect of a research instrument, i.e., checking for reliability.
Different types and ways of measuring the validity
Measuring the validity depends on the component you are trying to validate. There are different techniques for different components. In this section of today’s article, there will be a mention of all the validity components and tests used to check for their validity. Hence, a brief description of all the components of validity is as follows.
Face validity
As the name suggests, face validity is checking the overall validity of the research instrument. One of the most basic components of validity. Degree to which a measure is relevant to the specific idea. Subjective judgement of the idea or theory. The non-experts, test takers or community representatives often do this judgement. Thus, a research instrument has face validity if its content looks relevant to the person who is judging it.
In simple words, you can say that this validity component checks questionnaires for feasibility and readability. Checking for the consistency of the style, formatting and language is also a part of this validation. The techniques that you can use to do this validity are as follows.
- Post hoc theory
- Expert assessment of all the components of the questionnaire
- Cohen’s Kappa Index
Content validity
This component of validity tests the content of the questionnaires. It checks whether the content is designed to acquire the required information or not. It should answer whether the questions are representative of the information being assessed or not. In content validity, the evaluators keep the things that are relevant. They erase or remove all other irrelevant things from the questionnaire.
This component of the validity of research instruments checks them for their content. It says that any new questionnaire or survey content must be relevant to the study goals. Content validity is highly recommended for any kind of questionnaire. There is a number of techniques that researchers use to validate the content. Some of those are as follows.
- Literature reviews
- Expert panels or judges
- CVR; Lawshe’s method
- Q-sorting
Construct validity
Construct validity measures how different ideas and theories relate or diverge from one another. This validity verified the relevance of the questions. The researchers check the questions of an existing and newly developing research instrument. They check how much they relate to each other. Normally, there are two types of this validity components. One is the convergent construct validity, and the other is the divergent construct validity.
If the questions are highly correlated, it is called convergent. The divergent validity exists when one variable differs greatly from the other variable. Now, you must be thinking about the ways to measure this correlation. There are different techniques that you can use to measure this correlation. Some are as follows.
- Factor analysis using principal component analysis (PCS)
- Confirmatory factor analysis
- Q-sorting
Criterion validity
This component of validity is relevant to the outcome. You all know that every research instrument, upon its completion, reveals something new. That something new is the outcome of that particular research. Therefore, criterion validity measures how well the research instrument can predict an outcome. Mostly, the researchers do surveys through questionnaires to learn about the future. They deduce the future patterns and trends from the answers of the participants. So, there should be a tool to know about the outcomes, and that tool is criterion validity. You can say that a research instrument has this type of validity if it is useful for predicting future performance.
This type of validity of research instruments has two subtypes. One is concurrent validity, and the other is predictive and postdictive validity. The research instrument is predictively valid if it predicts what it is supposed to predict. The other type refers to the extent to which the results of the previous instrument correspond to this instrument’s results. Different techniques used in this validity are as follows.
- Regression analysis
- Discriminant analysis
- Correlation analysis
- Standard error of measurement (SEM) reliability coefficient
Conclusion
In this article, I have reviewed the different ways to test the validity of research instruments. It is important to note that questionnaires and surveys are two different instruments. You can find the description of the four main validity tests of the questionnaire above. You can also find different techniques associated with these tests. Hence, read them carefully, and they will help you a lot.
Author Bio:
Robert Fawl is a professional Content writer & Content Marketer. Based in London, Robert is an author and blogger with experience in encounter composing on various topics including but not limited to Essay Writing, Dissertation Writing, Coursework Writing Services, Thesis Writing Services and Assignment Writing etc.
