Lecture
Operational validity is the evaluation of an experiment in terms of the degree of correspondence between the empirically laden concepts of the IV, DV, and additional variables (AV), on the one hand, and the methods of setting and measuring the variables used in the study, on the other.
The means of operationalizing variables are psychological methods (techniques).
In an experimental study there may be at least two techniques: one for setting the IV and one for measuring the DV. They are evaluated in terms of the representativeness of the constructs of the IV and DV and their correspondence to the real conditions whose aspects are being modeled.
The operationalization of means, that is, the development of a methodological arsenal in testing psychological hypotheses, is a creative component.
It is necessary to distinguish between the concepts of «method» and «technique» as units of analysis of psychological reality at different levels. Their interrelation is important in the context of the methodological operationalization of variables. This concept encompasses the solution of the problem of choosing techniques for setting, recording, and measuring variables, insofar as they represent:
- particular constructs;
- concretizations of the variables in the experimental hypothesis;
- the realities of the modeled subject-matter (experimental) activity;
- the conditions for actualizing the basic processes under study.
The assessment of operational validity is connected with how successfully the transition from the formulation of hypotheses to the choice of techniques has been made.
Construct validity is the assessment of the soundness of the transition from the concepts presented in the theoretical hypothesis – psychological constructs – to their empirical representations as IV, DV, and AV.
The assessment of the possibility of generalization depends on construct validity (and on external validity).
The interrelation of operational and construct validity.
These types of validity make it possible to evaluate the substantive planning of a study.
A psychological hypothesis, derived as a consequence of a theoretical conception, may change somewhat upon repeated testing if the means of operationalizing the variables change. When the aim is to reveal one and the same theoretical dependency, but the psychological constructs are concretized by different methodological means, this is called conceptual replication. With multiple measurements of the DV by different techniques, the soundness of the assertion about the nature of the process under study increases. Measurements of different types of setting the IV likewise broaden the range of generalizations.
In psychology, in using a single concept, basic processes at different levels are often studied. Example: the concept of impulsivity (as a generalized trait, as a cognitive style, and so on).
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