Validity And Reliability In Research Methodology

Research methodology, is an understanding of the different approaches used to conduct research. Within research methodology validity and reliability are important. The reason, researchers need to understand the methodology, before research is conducted is to ensure that they are using them correctly and ethically and also understand the key concept
Validity is when the method used measures what it is suppose to measure. Validity is a true picture of what is being studied. Validity is important because it helps the data results achieve accuracy (Cherry, 2015). To ensure and achieve validity researchers should make sure the data collected is evidence of what it claims to be, and not just data which is not accurate or random (Classroom notes, 2015). Unstructured interviews are much more likely to be valid because the interviewer can explain the question to the participant, therefore the participant is not left to interpret the question if they do not understand.

Reliability is when data have been collected and the researchers who were collecting the data uses the same method consistently.

Therefore, other researchers who repeat the same method should obtain similar results. This is because the method is reliable (Classroom notes 2015). Researchers must test a number of times, to make sure the test does not harm animals which would then harm humans. Different animals would react in a different way and that is why more than one animal needs to be tested on to achieve reliability (WhatIs.com, 2015).
Representativeness occurs when researchers use participants with similar characteristics as the target population. This is known as having a representative sample (Classroom notes, 2015). An example of representativeness is when researchers are investigating smokers' attitudes towards the smoking ban in cars with children under the age of 18. Researchers would use participants who smoke because it applies to them and not non

smokers.
A strength of primary research is that the researcher can decide the questions that they want to ask participants so they can find out exactly what they would like to know through the question they have decided to ask. Therefore the participant has more control in their research (Knowthis.com). Another strength is the information that they discover is more reliable because they have found it out themselves and it is not a secondary resource. The reason a secondary source might be unreliable is because they could be biased and the secondary source would be from the researchers point of view.
A limitation of primary research is there is a lot to do and it can be expensive because the researcher may need to buy some resources and equipment and the carrying out and preparing for the research may cost too. Another disadvantage is it would take a lot of time to get everything together so it would be time consuming (Knowthis.com). Time consuming is a problem because there would not be enough time to get a large representative sample.