Establishing Reliability and Validity
In conducting a research or survey, the quality of the data collected in the research is of utmost importance. One’s assessment may be reliable and not valid and thus this is why it is important that when designing a survey, one should also come up with the methods of testing the reliability and validity of the assessment tools. For MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) to conduct a survey, the questions they propose to use must pass the validity and reliability test for one to conclude that the survey is reliable and valid. This survey will try to find out the risk factors that contribute to drunken driving by teenagers or young adults.
Reliability can be defined as the statistical measurement of how consistent and repetitive a research tool or instrument can measure what it is purported to do (Litwin, 1995, p. 6). Validity on the other hand is the measure of how truly or correctly the tool or instrument can measure what it is designed to do (Miller & Kirk, 1986, p.19). Reliability and validity are asymmetrical, meaning that one can be able to achieve ideal reliability with no validity but with a perfect validity comes a perfect reliability. But theoretically, one cannot be able to achieve a perfect validity as no instrument or tool can perfectly be standardized and no assessment or experiment can be perfectly controlled (Miller & Kirk, 1995, p. 21). Normally, tests on reliability are done but none are done on validity. To assess the reliability and validity of the questions that MADD want to use in their survey, several tests will be run on the questions to evaluate the different types or reliabilities and validity. To establish the validity and reliability of this survey, a pilot survey ...
... middle of paper ...
...and validity of the questions that MADD wish to use, then we can have confidence that the survey data collected will be close to the true value and that it measures the risk factors that play a big role in teenage drunk driving. Having a perfect survey is not possible, but with good standardization of the research tools, we can be able to achieve a high level of reliability and hence a highly valid survey result.
Works Cited
Carmines, E. G., & Zeller, R. A. (1979). Reliability and validity assessment. London: Sage Publications Inc.
Goodwin, C. J. (2010). Research in psychology: Methods and design. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.
Kirk, J., & Miller, M. L. (1986). Reliability and validity in qualitative research. London: Sage Publications Ltd.
Litwin, M. S. (1995). How to measure survey reliability and validity. London: Sage Publications Ltd.
Hingson, Ralph. "Prevention of Drinking and Driving." Alcohol Research & Health. Winter 1996-1997: 219-226. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.
There are two basic psychometric properties, validity and reliability that have been used to evaluate the quality of scale development. Psychometric testing used to evaluate the quality of instrument (Polit& Beck, 2010).
Since MADD has been in existence there has been a 43% decline in alcohol related traffic fatalities (MADD stats and resources homepage). It has consistently been providing statistics on excessive drinking, complete drunk driving research, the effects of underage drinking, laws regarding alcohol, and current news stories. MADD is not just advertised on the television and library, but has continuously been able to reach the public through the use of the internet. The website www.madd.org has reached thousands of people to spread the word of the harmful effects of alcohol abuse whether the consumer is underage or not. The large load of ...
Alcohol is causing too many deaths. Each year, excessive drinking is responsible for the deaths of 80,000 people in the United States, 4,700 of which are young Americans (6). Alcohol by itself is dangerous; this danger is (made greater) when individuals consuming it are allowed to drive a vehicle. Research has shown that a pedestrian struck by a vehicle moving at 40 miles an hour has a fifty percent chance of getting killed as a result of the impact (9). A distracted or impaired driver will not be able to react as fast as a non-impaired driver, meaning a drunk driver is a more dangerous driver than a sober one.
The use of alcohol by adolescents is implicated in about one third of all fatal crashes involving teens.
Drunk Driving is defined as: Operating a motor vehicle while one 's blood alcohol content is above the legal limit set by statute, which supposedly is the level at which a person cannot drive safely. State statutes define the legal limit to be between .08 and .10 depending on what state you’re in. Every 51 minutes in America, someone is killed in a drunk driving crash(MADD). That equates to 27 people every day. Which comes to a total of at least 9,855 deaths in a year. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 32% of fatal car crashes involve an intoxicated driver or pedestrian (MADD). As of right now, in society the total number of drunk driving accidents is slowly but surely increasing and if nothing is done about it, it’ll result in a tragic amount of deaths and injuries. Drunk drivers are extremely dangerous not just to oneself, but to society as well. That is why one serious solution to this societal epidemic is to create a portion of the driving test where drivers will be required to be at least ten beers deep and while drunk they must drive through a set of
The course gives teens a better understanding of safer driving habits to maintain. For example, a while ago a young man was killed in an accident due to a bad habit: the driver was drinking and driving. As stated in a journal, “Alcohol involvement among drivers fifteen to twenty years old involved in fatal crashes, in 2003, numbers of surviving was 4227, and fatally injured was 3657”(Best, 663). Therefore, the numbers keep going each year and it is a reoccurring problem that can be stopped immediately. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (2001), “Although 25% reduction in alcohol related fatalities from 1990 to 2000 has been observed; approximately 41% of all traffic fatalities (17,448) in 2001 were alcohol-related” (Sarkar, Andreas, and de Fabrio, 306). This is why there needs to be more motivation to have designated drivers. Drinking and driving is a problem that can be solved instantly. It may not only ruin one’s own life, but others’ lives as well. The number of accidents is extremely...
Drunk driving is a problem that we hear about every day and it is something that effects everyone, but it only becomes real when it affects us directly. What we don’t know is when a problem like drunk driving will become “real” for us. Drunk driving is an issue that has taken a toll on our country and should be stopped. Drunk driving has been an increasing problem for many years. It effects not only the driver but all of society. The good thing is there are many ways the percentage of drunk drivers can be reduced. Although many people believe drunk driving doesn't affect them because they don't drink and drive, it is something that affects the whole community.
Teenage alcohol abuse is one of the major problems that affect academic performance, cause health problems and is responsible for the death of teenage drivers and sometime their passengers. Many teens drink because they think it is cool and do not understand the dangers of drinking alcohol. In 2008 a survey on the students views on alcohol was conducted in the Atlanta Public School System of 4,241 students surveyed results showed 74% of sixth graders felt there was a health risk while 25% felt there was no health risk; 81% of eighth graders felt there was a health risk, while 19% felt there was none; 82% of tenth graders felt there was a health risk, while 18% felt there was none, and 84% of twelve graders felt there was a health risk, while 15% felt there was none. Given these results on average of all grades, 20% of the students surveyed were unaware of the dangers of alcohol use. If one calculates, using the formular of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (2003), “three teens are killed each day when they drink alcohol and drive. At least six more die every day from other alcohol-related causes” (table 79). The impact of this student population’s lack of knowledge equates to 49 of those students per week who most likely will die because they do not understand the dangers of alcohol.2
Young people are considered to constitute the largest number of alcohol consumers and they account for a large portion of alcohol sales. This is despite the strict drinking laws that govern many countries as regards alcohol purchase and consumption. Underage drinking, which has been on the increase, is allegedly the major cause of alcohol-related problems facing the modern society. The most severe effects of adolescent drinking include drunk driving that leads to accidents and even death, violence, poor performance in school, addiction, poor relationships and damage on adolescent brain development among others (Bonnie and O’Connell 58). The society is to a great extent affected by these effects through deaths and lost productivity among the youth. This has become a challenge to the society and government, which has been accused of doing nothing about this menace. Weak personal character, bad social states and poor cultural settings are some of the major factors that are believed to be behind underage drinking.
Alcohol at a young age can include many serious injuries, including vehicle accidents. According to M.A.D.D. (Mothers against Drunk Driving)”In 2010 the highest drunk driving rates were found amongst those ages 21 to 25 (23.4%), and 18 to 20 (15.1%). After age 25, the drunk driving rates decrease.” Many new drivers are around the age of ...
The increasing penalties for getting caught as a drunk driver have increased over the years. The government has taken measures to educate teenagers about the dangers of drinking and driving and the many lives that could be lost. Schools such as Los Amigos High School have taken the responsibility to educate these teens towards the dangers of drinking and driving with the assistance of The National Every 15 Minutes Organization (www.every15minutes.com). This organization seeks to give students the opportunity to feel first hand the effects of drinking and driving with out the risk. Measures such as the ones taken through the Every 15 Minutes Organization would not be taken if the institutions and people had not sought to end prohibition and still try to protect the lives of those that they care about.
Teenage drinking has become a big problem around the world the studies have shown between seventy to eighty percent of every teen has had an alcoholic beverage. (ClayPool 2) That is about half of the students in a public school. 1.9 million teens from the day they turned twelve to the age of twenty are considered heavy drinkers. (Well-connected 21) But only twelve out of fifteen actually have a problem drinking alcoholic beverages. (Goodwin 63) Many teens die in traffic accidents each day from the age sixteen to nineteen. There has been around 2,700 teens in the United States killed and almost 321,000 were treated for injuries suffered by motor-vehicle crashes, but then were released to go home. The cost to repair the damages of an alcohol-related accident is estimated to be around one-thousand, five- hundred all the way up to one-hundred, forty-eight billion dollars. ("Teenage" 64) But alcohol-related crashes also cost American taxpayers one-hundred billion dollars not just the driver. ("Drinking") Days of the week with the highest deat...
Drunk driving accidents are the number one killer of adolescents (Teenagers and peer pressures. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2013, from). Mixing drinking while driving can be deadly. Teenage drunk driving accidents not only affect the person drinking while driving, but it also can kill or harm others (Alcohol problems and solutions. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2013, from) (Teen drinking and driving. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2013, from) . Every single accident provoked by drinking and driving could have been prevented. If underage drinking is illegal, why do young people do it ? Teenagers usually are influenced by their elders (Alcohol problems and solutions. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2013, from). In the United States, one out of ten 12 through 14 year olds have tried alcohol and continue to do so on a regular basis . There is a more than fifty percent of probability that young adults that have tried alcohol at a younger age may become alcoholics in the near future (Alcohol fatalities. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2013, from). So, why do teenagers take so many risks with their health and behind the wheel? The answer is simple teen drivers tend to think they are invincible and more needs to be done to educate teens on the dangers of drinking and driving.
The biggest problem with drunk driving by young adults is the high rate of traffic accidents. Although young drivers ages 16 through 25 makeup only 15% of U.S. licensed drivers, they constitute 30 percent of all alcohol-related driving fatalities. This is double the amount of licensed drivers in that age group. Inexperience with both drinking and driving may contribute to this disproportionate rate. Nationwide in 1996, people ages 15 to 24 died in fatal motor vehicle crashes and 45 percent of those deaths were a result of alcohol (NHTSA 4). So it comes to no surprise that traffic crashes are the leading cause of death in the United States for people younger than 25 (NCHS 98).