Threats To Validity

 Threats To Validity

Validity is the extent to which a concept,^[1] conclusion or measurement is well-founded and likely corresponds accurately to the real world. The word “valid” is derived from the Latin validus, meaning strong. The validity of a measurement tool (for example, a test in education) is the degree to which the tool measures what it claims to measure. Validity is based on the strength of a collection of different types of evidence (e.g. face validity, construct validity, etc.) described in greater detail below.

In psychometrics, validity has a particular application known as test validity: “the degree to which evidence and theory support the interpretations of test scores” (“as entailed by proposed uses of tests”).^[2]

It is generally accepted that the concept of scientific validity addresses the nature of reality in terms of statistical measures and as such is an epistemological and philosophical issue as well as a question of measurement. The use of the term in logic is narrower, relating to the truth of inferences made from premises. In logic, and therefore as the term is applied to any epistemological claim, validity refers to the consistency of an argument flowing from the premises to the conclusion; as such, the truth of the claim in logic is not only reliant on validity. Rather, an argumentative claim is true if and only if it is both valid and sound. This means the argument flows without contradiction from the premises or the conclusion, and all of the premises and the conclusion correspond to known facts. As such, “scientific or statistical validity” is not a deductive claim that is necessarily truth preserving, but is an inductive claim that remains true or false in an undecided manner. This is why “scientific or statistical validity” is a claim that is qualified as being either strong or weak in its nature, it is never necessary nor certainly true. This has the effect of making claims of “scientific or statistical validity” open to interpretation as to what, in fact, the facts of the matter mean.

Validity is important because it can help determine what types of tests to use, and help to make sure researchers are using methods that are not only ethical, and cost-effective, but also a method that truly measures the idea or constructs in question.