Solved – the difference between reliability and validity

reliabilityvalidity

A test (for example, psychological) should be designed in a manner to get valid information, i.e. it must be valid instrument. Is there any relevance of reliability in constructing a test, too? What is the difference between reliability and validity? They both seem to be often based on correlations, so it is easy to mix the concepts.

Best Answer

Reliability has to with being able to replicate results. So if you apply the same measurment technique multiple times in similar situations you should get similar results. An unreliable measurement adds a lot of random noise to your measurement.

Validity has to do with measuring what you want to measure. This is a much more theoretical concept: if this is a survey you just need to think about what the questions are, how a respondent might interpret that question (and the possible answer categories), the theoretical concept you want to measure, and whether these all match up.

Also see here and here

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