Coursework on Reliability and validity

Running head: Important Factors to Be Considered in Job Selection Process Important Factors to Be Considered in Job Selection Process [Writers name] [University/ college] Important Factors to Be Considered In Job Selection Process Validity and reliability both are important factors for job analysis and job selection. Validity has lot of different meanings in the views of authors all around the world. Its not just one fixed perception. It is a very argumentative topic in the fields of educational and social research. So, we need to ponder on the different meanings regarding "validity". One renowned and cited one is: "An account is valid or true if it represents accurately those features of the phenomena, that it is intended to describe, explain or theories" (Hamersley in 1987) (1) Another one states: "Are we measuring what we think we are?" (Kerlinger in page 444-445 in 1964). (2) It means that does the means of the assessment actually is accurate or not. And the other is that whether the means of assessment is actually measuring what it needs to measure. Face validity is the seeing to it that a particular test really measuring the criteria and phenomena. For the selection of a employee there is a process which includes Job Analysis, Recruitment and Selection. Job analysis is the analysis of the job and to see what the job needs, Ability, skills, work experience that a

  • Word count: 3082
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Business and Administrative studies
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The validity and accuracy in analysing personality traits using interobserver reliability.

The validity and accuracy in analysing personality traits using interobserver reliability Abstract Four 211 psychology students were shown three scenes from a Star Trek video to empirically test the validity of personality impressions for Captain James T. Kirk and Captain Jean-luc Picard. It is predicted that perceived personality traits will be reflected in observed behaviour and that behavioural data will confirm that Captain Picard is more communicative and Captain Kirk is less communicative. The first video showed both captains together to get an impression of both captains and choose a trait in which to measure their personalities. The four students were then shown a video of Captain Kirk in which they individually noted the times the captain displayed communicative behaviour. This was then repeated for a video of Captain Picard. The results showed that Captain Kirk's behavioural data showed more communicativeness in comparison to Captain Picard. This is due to moderators of personality judgement. Introduction The validity and accuracy of analysing personality traits, through the observation of people's behaviour, has interested personality psychologists for years. In terms of this study, it is very important to understand the accuracy and validity in judgments, which can be illustrated by the moderators of accuracy and inter-rater reliability. Funder has outlined the

  • Word count: 1727
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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Concept of Validity and Reliability in Relation to Selection of Staff.

Concept of Validity and Reliability in Relation to Selection of Staff An organisation has two key resources, people and money. 'Human beings are the lifeblood of any enterprise. They are the company's most vital asset'. (Plumbley, 1976). Recruitment and Selection comprise the important HR functions of the organization and should be thought of as a matching process. Selection commences as soon as the applicant responds to an advertisement or makes an unsolicited enquiry. One way to look at the selection process is to view it as a series of obstacles that applicants must clear in order to obtain the job. Each successive obstacle eliminates some applicants from contention. For example, applicant skills can be evaluated through application forms, interviews, tests, and reference checks, letters of recommendation or reference, and physical examinations. To judge the effectiveness of any selection technique two statistical concepts have been of particular importance, Reliability and Validity. We are going to examine briefly these two key factors and how they influence the process of selection of staff in this essay. Reliability is the consistency of measurement, or the degree to which an instrument measures the same way each time it is used under the same condition with the same subjects (www.technetium.cen.brad.ac.uk). In short, it is the repeatability of the measurement. We can

  • Word count: 1811
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Business and Administrative studies
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Discuss the Gardeners' chimp study in terms of validity and reliability

Gardner and Gardner Teaching sign language to a chimpanzee Discuss the Gardeners' chimp study in terms of validity and reliability The study by the Gardner's educated psychologists about how they should conduct their studies. Also through negative methodology the study showed the importance of sustaining validity in a study. Many aspects of the study can be replicated in order to increase validity of a study, and also many considerations are highlighted through the Gardners' study. According to Gardner and Gardner, 'the results of project Washoe presented the first serious challenge to the doctrine that only human beings have language'. This statement meant that the Gardner's firmly believed that there study sustained a high level of both reliability and validity, which in turn they believed increased the generalisability of the study. The aim of the study was to demonstrate that a chimpanzee does has the capability to use human language. This study was conducted in order to explore the possibility of communicating with animals. Everyone agrees that animals can communicate with each other; the disagreement, which Gardner and Gardner wished to explore, was whether they can use something similar to human language to do this. The failure of the early studies to encourage chimpanzees to use speech sounds led the Gardners to look for a different mode of controlled

  • Word count: 1139
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Explain how reliability and validity affect the diagnosis of mental health and illness.

Explain how reliability and validity affect the diagnosis of mental health and illness. Rosenhan's study uncovered weaknesses in the process of diagnosis using the DSM-11. The study shows that the method used for diagnosis was reliable because participants went to a range of different hospitals, and so therefore different psychologists treated them. Each participant presented the psychologist with the exact same symptoms, and all of the psychologists diagnosed them as schizophrenic, showing 100% reliability for diagnosis. The diagnosis is considered reliable because more than one psychologist gave the same diagnosis for the same symptoms. This study supports the idea, that if the classification system is reliable, then diagnosis will be 100% correct. However the study showed that the process of diagnosis used by the psychologists was low in validity, because all of the participants were misdiagnosed. Each psychologist diagnosed the pseudo patients as schizophrenic, when actually they were all faking. The diagnosis system was found to be low in validity, which resulted in patients being misdiagnosed. Instead the psychologists misdiagnosed a patient based on a false pattern of symptoms. Rosenhan's study can be criticised because a small sample of only 8 participants was used, therefore we cannot be certain that the DSM-11 process of diagnosis is always low in validity and high

  • Word count: 861
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Healthcare
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Discuss the significance of reliability and validity in relation to qualitative methods.

Discuss the significance of reliability and validity in relation to qualitative methods. This essay will provide an insight into the long running debate over the significance of reliability and validity in relation to qualitative methods. This debate has sparked many questions over the years. These include; why are reliability and validity such an issue in the first place? Are they both as significant as each other? What would happen if they did not exist? The answers to these questions provide an insight into the wider question of 'how significant are reliability and validity in qualitative methods? Many researchers have attempted to provide answers to such questions resulting in a battle of survival of the fittest! Before discussing the questions it seems fitting to give a brief account of the wider debate between quantitative and qualitative methods. This is relevant as it should explain why reliability and validity have become such an issue in qualitative methods. When talking about the quantitative vs. qualitative methods debate Stevenson and Cooper (1997 p481) point out that Psychology is "a discipline and profession" They believe that quantitative methods are the only way to go and that "Psychology would become an arts-based discipline" (Morgan, 1997 p481) if it were to take on qualitative methods. It is apparent - just by reading research articles - most

  • Word count: 1768
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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Discuss the issues of Reliability and Validity in the Diagnosis of Mental Abnormality.

Discuss the issues of Reliability and Validity in the Diagnosis of Mental Abnormality Diagnosis is the process of identifying a disease, and allocating it to a category on the basis of symptoms and signs. A classification system such as the DSM-IV version can be used to diagnose mental abnormality. Categorisation therefore is very important, as diagnosis using the classification system will bring about certain treatments, and if the diagnosis is wrong, the person may be receiving inappropriate treatment, which may do more harm than good. Clearly any classification system will be of little value unless psychologists can agree with one another when trying to reach a diagnosis. However if for example a person is diagnosed with a mental illness such as manic depression, the clinical psychologist will know what symptoms to expect and possible ways of treating the illness. By clinical psychologists all using the same classification system, diagnosis should be less bias, because they use objective behaviours and sets of symptoms. However a clinical psychologist may interpret a person's behaviour in a different way to another clinical psychologist, so diagnosis can be seen as quite sceptical. A diagnosis is considered reliable if more than one psychologist would give the same diagnosis to the same individual. Early studies consistently showed poor diagnostic reliability. Cooper

  • Word count: 1084
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Medicine and Dentistry
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Assess the view that what participant observation lacks in terms of reliability & representativeness, it more than makes up for in terms of validity.

Assess the view that what participant observation lacks in terms of reliability & representativeness, it more than makes up for in terms of validity. Participant Observation is where the researcher infiltrates themselves into a certain group or gang to study them from within. The researcher usually puts themselves in a position where they are in the main part of the group, and they usually study the activities and attitudes of the different gang/group members. The observation is usually carefully thought through, & it is usually recorded in field notes, and can often take months, even years to complete. Participant Observation usually doesn't start with a definite hypothesis, so new ideas and thoughts about the group or the way that an idea may turn out usually come through when the observer is part of the group. You can either do overt (people know you are doing it) or covert (undercover) observations, or even a combination of both. Although this may seem like a very kosher method to use, there are quite a few disadvantages of doing this; Bias is a concern because if the observer starts being drawn into the group, their own views will be abandoned because they may start seeing things through the group's eyes, and may blind the researcher to other views that may be available. The influence of the researcher may also be a problem, because if a group know that they are

  • Word count: 1342
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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Introduction to Psychometrics/Reliability.

Introduction to Psychometrics/Reliability . Introduction Psychometrics is about the measurement of psychological constructs such as intelligence, people's attitudes and interests, and people's behaviour based upon the systematic application of a few relatively simple principles. And measurement has proved to be extremely important in science. Measurement is at the heart of the scientific method used in psychology. 2. Definitions Abstract concepts like social status or intelligence we call constructs, the concrete representations of these constructs we call variables (e.g. income, GCSE results) and the procedures for measuring variables we call operational definitions (e.g. actual questions used and the methods for administering and scoring these tests). Constructs are the abstractions scientists use in discussing theories (e.g. social power, intelligence, dietary restraint, attitude). Sometimes constructs are referred to as latent variables. Here the term latent indicates the fact that the variable must be inferred from other observable variables. Hence, constructs (or latent variables) can only be inferred from the relationship between sets of stimuli and sets of responses. For example, racist attitudes are inferred from the relationship between stimuli such as individuals of a particular skin colour or religious belief and observable expressions of negative

  • Word count: 2623
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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Sport Research project - write a report for John Whittaker detailing different types of data, identifying such topics as accuracy, precision, reliability, and validity.

Sport Research project . Terms of Reference I have been asked to write a report for John Whittaker detailing different types of data, identifying such topics as accuracy, precision, reliability, and validity. It has to be submitted on the 30th March 2004. 2. Procedure The methods that I will use are; * Books * Class notes from previous lessons 3. Findings My findings for the different types of data are as follows; 3.1 These are the different types of quantitative data; * Primary Data * Secondary Data Primary Data: is obtained directly through practical activities such as observation, surveys, and experiments. Observation means that the situation is of interest and is checked, and a person or some mechanical device records the relevant facts, actions, or behaviours. Accurate data about what people do in certain situations is provided by observation. Surveys or questioning involves using a questionnaire to ask people questions to secure the desired information. Experiments: in an experiment, a researcher selects matched groups, gives them different experimental treatments controlling for other related factors, and checks for differences in the responses of the experimental group and control group. Secondary Data: is obtained from secondary sources - paper based publications such as journals and books, electronic sources. It has already been gathered or published

  • Word count: 1486
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Maths
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