Validity

The extent to which research accurately captures what it is intended to investigate.

The extent to which research accurately measures or describes what it claims to investigate.

Validity concerns whether findings accurately represent what is being investigated. Reliability concerns whether procedures can be repeated consistently. Standardised questions can aid reliability, but consistently misleading answers would still lack validity.

The extent to which findings accurately measure what they claim to measure.

Do not confuse reliability with validity: consistent answers are not necessarily truthful or accurate.

Distinguish reliability from validity. Standardised questions can make research repeatable without ensuring that answers reflect people’s real experiences.

Distinguish reliability from validity. Consistent recording can be reliable even if important experiences are excluded.

The extent to which research accurately captures what it aims to investigate.

The extent to which data measures what it is intended to measure and reflects the social reality being investigated.

The extent to which research measures or captures what it is intended to study.

The extent to which a method or finding accurately captures what it is intended to investigate.

The extent to which research measures what it intends to study and provides an accurate account.

The extent to which research accurately measures what it intends to measure.

The extent to which a research measure captures what it is intended to measure.

The extent to which data measures what it is intended to measure or gives a truthful picture of the social reality being studied.

An account can therefore be valuable evidence of the writer's feelings without being a complete or truthful account of everything that happened. This matters for validity: whether the material gives a truthful picture of the aspect of social life being investigated.

The extent to which research accurately captures what it aims to investigate.

The extent to which research measures what it intends to measure and accurately captures the social reality being studied.

The extent to which research accurately measures or reflects the social reality being studied.

The extent to which research accurately represents the social behaviour or issue it aims to investigate.

The extent to which a measure accurately represents what it is intended to measure.

The extent to which research accurately measures or represents what it is intended to investigate.

The extent to which data accurately represent what a researcher intends to investigate.

The extent to which research accurately captures the social reality it is intended to investigate.

The extent to which research data accurately reflects the social reality being studied.

Definition

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AQA GCSE Sociology · 8192

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Eduqas GCSE Sociology · C200