construct validity
how well the measure actually reflects the construct
face validity
the extent to which the measure appears to assess the variable in question (subjective measure of construct validity)
content validity
the extent that the measure captures all parts of a construct (subjective measure of construct validity)
predictive validity
the extent that the measure is related to a concrete outcome that it should be related to (concrete outcome is assessed some time after the measure)
concurrent validity
the extent that the measure is related to a concrete outcome that it should be related to (concrete outcome is assessed at the same time as the measure)
convergent validity
the extent to which a measure is associated with other measures of the same (or similar) construct
discriminant (divergent) validity
the extent to which a measure does not associate strongly with measures of other different constructs
test-retest reliability
consistency in results every time a measure is used, relevant for stable traits
internal reliability
the consistency in pattern of answers, no matter how a question is phrased (relevant for measures that assess a construct)
interrater reliability
the degree to which two or more coders/observers agree in their ratings (relevant for observational studies)
convenience sampling
choosing people for a sample based on those who are the easiest to access
self-selection sampling
a form of bias sampling that occurs when a sample contains only people who volunteer to participate
purposive sampling
the inclusion of only certain kinds of people in a sample
snowball sampling
a variation on purposive sampling in which participants are asked to recommend acquaintances for the study
probability sampling
the process of drawing a sample from a population of interest in such a way that each member of the population have an equal probability of being included in the sample
cluster sampling
collect data from everyone in randomly selected clusters
multistage sampling
collect data from randomly selected individuals within randomly selected clusters
stratified random sampling
randomly select individuals within each demographic category
acquiescence
answering "yes" or "strongly agree" to every item in a questionnaire or interview (yea-saying)
nay-saying
answering "no" or "strongly disagree" to every item in a questionnaire or interview
fence-sitting
selecting neutral responses
socially desirable responding
faking good
observer bias
observer's expectations influence their interpretation of the subjects' behaviors
observer effects / reactivity
observed subject acts different when being watched
matched-group design
an experimental design in which participants who are similar on some measured variable are grouped into sets and the members of each matched set are then randomly assigned to different experimental conditions
independent-groups design (between subjects design)
an experimental design in which different groups of participants are exposed to different levels of the independent variable such that each participant experiences only one level of the independent variable
posttest-only design
an experiment with an independent-groups design in which participants are tested on the dependent variable only once
pretest/posttest design
an experiment with an independent-groups design in which participants are tested on the key dependent variable twice- once before and once after exposure to the independent variable
within-subjects design
a study design in which each participant is presented with all levels of the independent variable
concurrent-measures design
an experiment using a within-groups design in which participants are exposed to all the levels of an independent variable at roughly the same time, and a single attitudinal or behavioral preference is the dependent variable
repeated-measures design
an experiment with a within-groups design in which participants respond to a dependent variable more than once, after exposure to each level of the independent variable
order effect / carryover effects
a threat to internal validity that occurs when being exposed to one condition changes how people react to a later condition
practice effects
a type of order effect in which people's preformance improves over time because they become practiced at the dependent measure (not beacause of the manipulation or treatment)
counterbalancing
presenting levels of the independent variable to participants in different orders to control for order effects