STATISTICS | Validity and reliability Assignment

Running head: STATISTICS 1
STATISTICS
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STATISTICS 2
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Potential ethical “mine fields” in the area of validity and reliability
Validity and reliability are concepts used in research to examine the quality of research
by giving an explanation of how well methods, techniques or tests applied measure something.
Validity encompasses the accuracy while reliability involves the consistency of the measure.
However, there are potential ethical “mine fields” in the areas of validity and reliability (Wagner,
2016). These are areas that have a lot of hidden dangers or problems, and where evaluators to be
careful to avoid being wrong and hence their analysis and results posing ethical threat.
The “mine fields” include; design of the research study, sample size selection, selection
of measurement tools and choosing of appropriate methods and techniques to meet the threshold
of validity and reliability. Researchers who do not design their research appropriately or do not
decide their sample sizes correctly have a higher probability of not meeting the validity and
reliability requirements. On the other hand, adoption of inappropriate tools, methods and
techniques could lead to potentially being unable achieve valid and reliable results leading to
bias (Skott & Ward, 2012).
Technical approaches an evaluator can take to enhance validity and reliability
There are different ways that an evaluator can take to enhance validity and reliability including
improvement of measurement techniques, controlling a large number of variables, having an
increased level of randomization to reduce bias, adding control and placeable groups and
blinding the experiment (Kara, 2015).
Improvement of measurement techniques involves the adoption of technology such as
computers of sensors in measurement rather than relying on hand. It also involves relying on
multiple measurement sources rather than a single source. Controlling more variables involves