Substantiate the validity and reliability of your research in your thesis

Why is substantiating validity and reliability so important?

Studies should be representative of the target group or population you have researched. By discussing reliability and validity, you demonstrate how you ensure this. It shows how effectively your chosen research methods have measured something to gain understanding of the problem you are investigating.

In the research methods, you describe how to ensure validity and reliability. During your discussion, you can indicate to what extent your chosen research method measured what you intended to measure (validity) and to what extent the results would be consistent if the research were conducted in the same manner (reliability).

Validity and reliability are closely connected as they both indicate the quality of the research. For instance, a measurement can be considered reliable if the same result is obtained upon repeated measurements. However, it does not necessarily mean that the measurement is valid, as it may not have provided the expected insights in your research. Ideally, one should always aim for research that is both valid and reliable.

What is validity?

Validity means assessing whether the results in your thesis are accurate and if reliable conclusions can be drawn. In valid research, results align with real characteristics, phenomena, and differences in the physical and social world. Validity focuses on whether the methods and instruments used in your study measure what they intend to measure.

Internal or external validity?

• Internal validity refers to the extent to which you can be confident that a determined cause-effect relationship (causal link) is not influenced by other factors.
• External validity is the extent to which your results can be generalized to other situations or populations.

What is reliability?

Reliability means that a method consistently yields the same results. If you repeat the same measurement or study in the same way, you should obtain the same outcomes. It's important to note that reliability alone is not enough to ensure research accuracy. A reliable measurement can still produce incorrect results, rendering the study invalid.

How do you support validity and reliability in your thesis?

When drafting your research proposal, it's crucial to ensure your study is both valid and reliable. This means your research design must be well-considered.

Ensuring validity in your research design 

• Choose appropriate methods to investigate your topic. 
• Clearly define the scope of your research and ensure your methods are suitable for fully measuring your problem. This helps ensure internal validity. 
• Collect a sufficiently large sample, study enough cases, or conduct enough measurements to ensure your results are applicable beyond your study (external validity).

Ensuring reliability during your research execution 

• Ensure methods are consistently applied, such as conducting interviews in the same environment. 
• Provide all respondents with the same information before asking questions. This ensures consistency and enhances the reliability of results.

Where to discuss reliability and validity in your thesis? 

You typically discuss the reliability and validity of your research in various parts of your thesis. This demonstrates your consideration of these factors in both the design and interpretation of your results, making your research more honest, credible, and replicable.

• Literature Review: Describe methods used and developed by other researchers that are reliable and valid for investigating your problem.
• Methodology: Explain how you designed your research to ensure reliability and validity. Discuss sample size, preparation, external factors, and measurement methods.
• Results: Present key findings regarding the measured validity and reliability of your research.
• Discussion: Analyze the reliability and validity of your results. Discuss whether the results are consistent and accurately represent reality. If not, explain why.
• Conclusion: If there were issues with the reliability and validity of your results, explain how this prevents drawing definitive conclusions about your research problem.

By addressing reliability and validity in each of these chapters, you demonstrate thorough and careful research conduct.

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