Measurement Validity
Competencies Addressed in This Discussion
Competency 2: Articulate a problem statement appropriate for examination using criminal justice research methods.
Competency 5: Differentiate between reputable and nonreputable criminal justice research resources.
Introduction
As you learned in Chapter 4 of your Fundamentals of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice, an empirical measure of validity adequately reflects the meaning of the concept under consideration. When considering the issue of conceptualization, it is more difficult to demonstrate that individual measures are valid. For example, face validity offers empirical measures that may or may not jibe with common agreements and individual mental images about a particular concept. Criterion-related validity relies on comparing a measure with some external criterion. Measures can be validated by showing that it predicts scores on another measure that is generally accepted as valid. With discriminant validity, the measure of a concept is different from measures of similar but distinct concepts. Conceptual definitions offer a working definition specifically assigned to a term. This specification of conceptual definitions does two important things. It serves as a specific working definition presented so readers understand the concept and focuses observational strategy. It is operational definitions that spell out precisely how the concept will be measured; a description of the operations undertaken in measuring a concept.
In your main post:
Develop a narrowly focused concept, such as poverty, depression, or social support to test its validity.
Explain your chosen concept.
Identify three empirical research articles using a library search to find the most valid measure of your chosen concept.
Summarize your findings based on your empirical research.
Explore how valid the measure is and the basis for your rating of validity.
Discussion Objectives
The competencies in this discussion are supported by discussion objectives.
Competency 2: Articulate a problem statement appropriate for examination using criminal justice research methods.
Develop a narrowly focused concept to test its validity.
Competency 5: Differentiate between reputable and nonreputable criminal justice research resources.
Explain your chosen concept.
Identify three empirical research articles using a library search to find the most valid measure of your chosen concept.
Summarize your findings based on your empirical research.
Explore how valid the measure is and the basis for your rating of validity.
Response Guidelines
Respond to the posts of at least two peers. Interact about the different validation strategies used and their relative merits identified by other learners.
Is the concept defined clearly in each article? Why or why not?
How similar are the definitions of your concepts and those of others?
Did you share similar experiences to other learners regarding in testing the validity of your concepts? Why or why not?
If you support your discussion points with external sources, you must provide citation information such as author and title. However, full APA citations are not needed for discussions.
