Paper 1 – Chapter 3 – Research Methods and Analysis : Qualitative and quantitative methods.
- They are two important parameters that determine the correctness and effectiveness of an observation.
- Reliability leads to repetition of the same result.
- Validity is the degree of meeting the desired goal.
- Reliability can be thought of as repeatability – the extent to which, if you repeated the research, you would get the same results. Validity is whether you are measuring what you say you were measuring.
RELIABILITY
- Reliability is all about ‘Can the same result be produced again?’
- Reliability in research can be improved by inculcating objectivity in methods.
- Standardisation of procedures and methods also increases reliability.
- Statistical techniques and sampling are more reliable than methods like participant observation.
- Subjectivity will lead to lower reliability of sociological investigations.
VALIDITY
- Validity concerns itself with the degree of achieving the intended result.
- Result is valid if it achieves what it was supposed to achieve.
- True validity comes when both the instruments used and the results of experiments themselves are found to be accurate each time an experiment is conducted.
- In order for an experiment to be considered valid, it must first be considered internally and externally valid. This means that an experiment’s measuring tools must be able to be used repeatedly to generate the same results.
- While positivists may argue that validity is possible in Sociology by the use of scientific methods, Interpretivists disagree.
