Evaluating Operational Definitions

objective & precise

operational definitions must BE < (2&)

reliability & validity

operational definitions must HAVE < (2&)

reliability

consistency of experimental and measured operational definitions

reliability

to increase, researcher must choose a standardized instrument with reliability coefficient

reliability

if it's low, it cant be trusted bc its inconsistent

interrater, interitem, & test-retest reliability

ways to check reliability < (3,&)

interrater reliability

RELIABILITY:

degree to which observers agree in their measurement of the behavior

test-retest reliability

RELIABILITY:

degree to which a person's scores are consistent across 2+ administrations of a measurement procedure

interitem reliability

RELIABILITY:

measures the degree to which diff parts of an instrument that r designed to measure the same variable achieve consistent results

interitem reliability

RELIABILITY:

cronbach alpha

interitem reliability

RELIABILITY:

common type to test reliability

validity

operational definition accurately manipulates the IV or measures the DV

face, content, predictive, & construct validity

types of validity < (4,&)

face validity

VALIDITY:

degree to which validity of manipulation or measurement technique is SELF-EVIDENT

face validity

VALIDITY:

least stringent form of validity

face validity

VALIDITY:

includes other people's opinions

content validity

VALIDITY:

means how accurately a measurement procedure samples the content of the DV

predictive validity

VALIDITY:

means how accurately a measurement procedure predicts future performance

predictive validity

VALIDITY:

degree of its ability to predict behavior

construct validity

VALIDITY:

how accurately an operational definition represents a construct

construct validity

VALIDITY:

transition from theory to research application

construct validity

VALIDITY:

highly theoretical and statistical

construct validity

VALIDITY:

most difficult