How to evaluate scientific reliability and validity – Savvy Essay Writers | savvyessaywriters.net
How to evaluate scientific reliability and validity – Savvy Essay Writers | savvyessaywriters.net
Written Assignment #9: How to evaluate scientific reliability and validity
DUE DATE: July 5, 2019 before 11:59 PM.
READING
a. To learn what reliability and validity mean in research: 1. Read an excerpt from Sommer’s (no date) article, “Introduction:
Reliability and Validity.” 2. Read a student from Bangor University’s (2011) blog post, “Reliability vs.
Validity.”
b. To learn what external versus internal validity means in research, read Bradley’s (no date), PPT, “Reliability, Validity, and Bias.”
1. Although you should be sure you understand both terms, reliability and validity, and their difference, this assignment will focus on reliability. (Another assignment will focus on validity.)
c. To dig even deeper into the issues of reliability, as well as replicability, and reproducibility, read Munafó et al.’s (2017) article, “A Manifesto for Reproducible Science.”
1. NOTE: Munafó et al.’s (2017) article is complex (it’s not Huffington Post- style writing).
You might need to read it a few times to understand it. Please be persistent.
2. Munafó et al. (2017) suggest 10 procedures for making science, including psychological science, more reproducible (replicable and reliable).
Their 10 suggested procedures are listed in Table 1 on the third page, and each is explained in the article.
WRITING ASSIGNMENT
3. Choose three of Munafó et al.’s (2017) 10 suggested procedures. Choose the three suggested procedures that you like the most (or
that you understand the best). 4. Write one five-paragraph Examples-Style essay to support the thesis
“Scientists Can Improve Research Reliability.” For this essay, the three procedures you have chosen from Munafó
et al.’s (2017) article will be your three ‘examples’ in your Examples-Style essay.
Part 1: Reliability and Validity (primer)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/e50qj3kaahgtulk/Sommer_ReliabilityValidity_NoDate.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/e50qj3kaahgtulk/Sommer_ReliabilityValidity_NoDate.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/nal3jk0y4ops5tk/Rachel_ReliabilityValidity_2011.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/nal3jk0y4ops5tk/Rachel_ReliabilityValidity_2011.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jpndosodxq0kzkx/Bradley_ReliabilityValidity_NoDate.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3onh1mpfhgqqfb7/Munafo_NHB_2017.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3onh1mpfhgqqfb7/Munafo_NHB_2017.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/e50qj3kaahgtulk/Sommer_ReliabilityValidity_NoDate.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/e50qj3kaahgtulk/Sommer_ReliabilityValidity_NoDate.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/nal3jk0y4ops5tk/Rachel_ReliabilityValidity_2011.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/nal3jk0y4ops5tk/Rachel_ReliabilityValidity_2011.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jpndosodxq0kzkx/Bradley_ReliabilityValidity_NoDate.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3onh1mpfhgqqfb7/Munafo_NHB_2017.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3onh1mpfhgqqfb7/Munafo_NHB_2017.pdf?dl=0
d. If you need to review how to write a Five-Paragraph Essay, including how to write an Examples-Style essay, watch again the lecture video, “The Five-Paragraph Model” (a transcript of the video is available here).
1. Check your essay to make sure your Introduction Paragraph has a hook and a Thesis Statement.
2. Check your Thesis Statement to make sure that it summarizes your three examples/procedures.
3. Check your essay to make sure it has three Supporting Paragraphs. 4. Check each of your three Supporting Paragraphs to make sure each one
has a Topic Sentence, three Supporting Sentences, and a Conclusion Sentence.
5. Check your essay to make sure it has a Conclusion Paragraph. 6. Check your Conclusion Paragraph to make sure it has a sentence that
restates your Thesis Statement (summarizing your three examples/procedures).
e. Because you’ll be drawing a lot of ideas from Munafó et al.’s (2017) article, make sure you don’t plagiarize.
1. Be sure to include in-text citations to Munafó et al.’s (2017) article when needed, but try to not make Munafó and his co-authors the subjects of your sentences.
2. Make your ideas (e.g., the three procedures you’ve chosen) the subjects of your sentences.
3. Remember, from Assignment #5, how to synthesize psychological science, not Mad Lib it.
4. Include a full citation to Munafó et al.’s (2017) article, in APA style, at the end of your essay.
5. Save your essay as a PDF and name the file YourLastname_ReliabilityEssay.pdf.
f. Go to Assignment #9, Part 1: Research Reliability and attach your essay, saved as a PDF.
READING
a. Reliable and valid studies have reliable and valid operational definitions. To learn what operational definitions are, read Bluestone’s (no date) PPT slide, “Operational Definitions,” and read this (no date) definition from Quality
Advisor℠.
b. To understand why consistent, precise, logical, and justifiable operational definitions are crucial for reliability and validity, read Dewey’s (2007) chapter, “Operational Definitions.”
Part 2: Operational Definitions
https://online225.psych.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/225-Master/225-UnitPages/Unit-03/PSY-225_Gernsbacher_FiveParagraph_Transcript.pdf
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0iqihan9zf83n94/Assignment%235_How%20to%20synthesize%20psychological%20science.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0iqihan9zf83n94/Assignment%235_How%20to%20synthesize%20psychological%20science.pdf?dl=0
https://bbhosted.cuny.edu/webapps/assignment/uploadAssignment?content_id=_40857180_1&course_id=_1731833_1&group_id=&mode=cpview
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fnvsf1bw21o0vbl/Bluestone_OperationalDefs_NoDate.pdf?dl=0
QualityAdvisor_Definition_NoDate.pdf
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3n15nueovbvvk7m/Dewey_OperationalDefs_2007.pdf?dl=0
https://online225.psych.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/225-Master/225-UnitPages/Unit-03/PSY-225_Gernsbacher_FiveParagraph_Transcript.pdf
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0iqihan9zf83n94/Assignment%235_How to synthesize psychological science.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0iqihan9zf83n94/Assignment%235_How to synthesize psychological science.pdf?dl=0
https://bbhosted.cuny.edu/webapps/assignment/uploadAssignment?content_id=_40857180_1&course_id=_1731833_1&group_id=&mode=cpview
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fnvsf1bw21o0vbl/Bluestone_OperationalDefs_NoDate.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3n15nueovbvvk7m/Dewey_OperationalDefs_2007.pdf?dl=0
c. To appreciate the difficulty of generating reliable, precise, and valid operational definitions, read this excerpt from Lammers and Badia’s (2013) textbook, Fundamentals of Behavioral Research.
WRITING ASSIGNMENT
d. To demonstrate the difficulty of generating reliable, precise, and valid operational definitions, complete this fillable PDF, which contains a list of 10 fortunes, such as one would see in a Magic 8 Ball game. Each fortune has at least one term bolded.
1. First, download the unfilled PDF and save it on your own computer. Rename the unfilled PDF to be YourLastName_PSY430_
OperationalDefinitions _Fillable.pdf. (In other words, add your LastName to the beginning of the filename.)
On your computer, open a PDF writer app, such as Preview, Adobe Reader, or the like.
Be sure to open your PDF writer app before you open the unfilled PDF from your computer.
From within your PDF writer app, open the unfilled PDF, which you have already saved onto your computer and re-named.
2. Second, using your PDF writer app, fill in the PDF with your operational definition of each of the bolded terms.
For example, if the fortune is “You will inherit some money or a small piece of land,” fill in the PDF with your operational definition of “some money” (What are the criteria for “some money”? How will you distinguish “some money” from money that’s not “some money”?) and with your operational definition of “a small piece of land” (What are the criteria for “a small piece of land”? How will you distinguish “a small piece of land” from a large piece of land or no land at all?).
If you’re unclear what an operational definition is, it would be good to go back and read the articles in a., b., and c., above.
3. Third, teach a friend (or family member) what operational definitions are. Then, ask this friend/family member to tell you their operational
definition of each of the bolded terms. Fill in your friend/family member’s operational definitions on your
PDF. Although you will first need to explain to your friend/family member
what an operational definition is, do not tell your friend/family member your operational definitions of the bolded terms before your friend/family member tells you their operational definitions
4. Fourth, teach a second friend (or family member) what operational definitions are.
Then, ask this second friend/family member to tell you their operational definition of each of the bolded terms.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zn0v7zzi3jo9r8y/Lammers_Chapter5_2013.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qbc77s7oyj0paa5/PSY430_OperationalDefinitions_Fillable.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zn0v7zzi3jo9r8y/Lammers_Chapter5_2013.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qbc77s7oyj0paa5/PSY430_OperationalDefinitions_Fillable.pdf?dl=0
Fill in your second friend/family member’s operational definitions on your PDF.
Again, you will need to explain to your friend/family member what an operational definition is, BUT do not tell your second friend/family member your operational definitions of the bolded terms (or your first friend/family member’s operational definitions) before your second friend/family member tells you their operational definitions.
e. Go to the discussion board forum Assignment #9, Part 2: Operational Definitions and make a new post of at least 200 words in which you do the following:
1. Identify which of the bolded terms you and your friends/family members showed the most and the least reliability on when each of you (independently) defined those terms operationally.
Speculate why those terms led to the most versus…
