definition of reliability and validity in research

Across disciplines, competent researchers often not only fail to report the reliability of their measures, but also fall short of grasping the inextricable link between scale validity and effective research. Threats to study a validity and reliability exist at almost every time in the research process. As a researcher, we must ensure that these reliability errors are minimized so that if differences are seen in the data that can be attributed to the intervention and not to sloppy weight measurements.

Reliability is often at risk when assessments are taken over time, performed by different people or the assessments are highly subjective. Assuming the same initial conditions for a test assessment or process the test must provide the same result every time it is performed for it to be deemed reliable.

A common threat to internal validity is reliability. An important point to remember when discussing validity is that without internal validity, we cannot have external validity. External validity, often called 'generalizability', involves whether the results given by the study are transferable to other groups (i.e. Internal validity encompasses whetherthe results of the study are legitimate because of the way the groups were selected, data was recorded or analysis performed. In research, validity has two essential parts: internal and external. Keywords: Reliability, Validity, Consistent, estimates. Finally this article attempts to explore the measurement related concepts as well as some of the issues pertaining thereto. Secondly, the factors which are affecting the reliability and validity of research are discussed.

First, the meaning of reliability and validity of research are discussed. This article discusses the issues in validity and reliability of research. The challenges of achieving reliability and validity are among the most difficult faced by researchers. The use of reliability and validity are common in quantitative research and now it is reconsidered in the qualitative research paradigm.

Definition of reliability and validity in research