However, even for school leaders who may not have the resources to perform proper statistical analysis, an understanding of these concepts will still allow for intuitive examination of how their data instruments hold up, thus affording them the opportunity to formulate better assessments to achieve educational goals. So how can schools implement them? In research, reliability and validity are often computed with statistical programs. the validity of the instrument chosen to answer the research questionĪlthough reliability may not take center stage, both properties are important when trying to achieve any goal with the help of data.the validity of the research question itself in quantifying the larger, generally more abstract goal.Moreover, schools will often assess two levels of validity:
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But, clearly, the reliability of these results still does not render the number of pushups per student a valid measure of intelligence.īecause reliability does not concern the actual relevance of the data in answering a focused question, validity will generally take precedence over reliability. Returning to the example above, if we measure the number of pushups the same students can do every day for a week (which, it should be noted, is not long enough to significantly increase strength) and each person does approximately the same amount of pushups on each day, the test is reliable. The property of ignorance of intent allows an instrument to be simultaneously reliable and invalid. Reliability, on the other hand, is not at all concerned with intent, instead asking whether the test used to collect data produces accurate results. In this context, accuracy is defined by consistency (whether the results could be replicated). Thus, a test of physical strength, like how many push-ups a student could do, would be an invalid test of intelligence. Some measures, like physical strength, possess no natural connection to intelligence. Validity pertains to the connection between the purpose of the research and which data the researcher chooses to quantify that purpose.įor example, imagine a researcher who decides to measure the intelligence of a sample of students. The validity of an instrument is the idea that the instrument measures what it intends to measure. These two concepts are called validity and reliability, and they refer to the quality and accuracy of data instruments.
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When creating a question to quantify a goal, or when deciding on a data instrument to secure the results to that question, two concepts are universally agreed upon by researchers to be of pique importance. Differences Between Validity and Reliability If the wrong instrument is used, the results can quickly become meaningless or uninterpretable, thereby rendering them inadequate in determining a school’s standing in or progress toward their goals. a standardized test, student survey, etc.) is optimal. However, the question itself does not always indicate which instrument (e.g. These focused questions are analogous to research questions asked in academic fields such as psychology, economics, and, unsurprisingly, education. They need to first determine what their ultimate goal is and what achievement of that goal looks like. An understanding of the definition of success allows the school to ask focused questions to help measure that success, which may be answered with the data.įor example, if a school is interested in increasing literacy, one focused question might ask: which groups of students are consistently scoring lower on standardized English tests? If a school is interested in promoting a strong climate of inclusiveness, a focused question may be: do teachers treat different types of students unequally? Schools interested in establishing a culture of data are advised to come up with a plan before going off to collect it. Such considerations are particularly important when the goals of the school aren’t put into terms that lend themselves to cut and dry analysis school goals often describe the improvement of abstract concepts like “school climate.” One of the biggest difficulties that comes with this integration is determining what data will provide an accurate reflection of those goals. Schools all over the country are beginning to develop a culture of data, which is the integration of data into the day-to-day operations of a school in order to achieve classroom, school, and district-wide goals.
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One of the following tests is reliable but not valid and the other is valid but not reliable.