Research update

Validity and reliability Whats it all about?

Part 1 Validity in quantitative studies

This is one of a
series of short
papers on aspects
of research by
Alison Twycross
and Linda Shields

Just because a research study has been published in a

design. Internal validity relates to the extent to which the

journal does not mean that it is good research or that

design of a research study is a good test of the hypothesis

the results are applicable to your area of clinical practice.

or is appropriate for the research question (Carter and

When reading a paper, it is necessary to consider the

Porter 2000). External validity, meanwhile, relates to

validity and reliability of the study being described. This

whether or not research findings can be generalised

and the next article in this series will define validity and

beyond the immediate study sample and setting.

reliability, and will explain how you can ascertain whether

a quantitative research study is both valid and reliable.
Validity means that a tool measures what it sets out
to measure for example, that a pain assessment tool

Alison Twycross RGN, RMN,

RSCN, MSc, CertEd (HE), DMS,

Measures that are used to assess the validity of data

collection tools are summarised in the box below (these
are adapted from Knapp (1998), Carter and Porter
(2000), Peat (2002)).

measures pain intensity rather than anxiety. There are

When reading a research paper, you need to look for

several measures of validity that provide evidence of the

evidence that the researcher has addressed the validity

quality of a study.

and reliability of the data collection tools. This is usually

discussed in the methodology section of the paper PN

Internal and external validity relate to the overall study

Senior Lecturer in Childrens

Nursing/Senior Nurse (Research
Development), Glasgow

Box 1: Measures to assess the validity of data collection tools

Content validity

Whether a tool appears to others to be measuring what it says it does. Face

Caledonian University/Yorkhill

validity is a simple form of content validity the researcher asks a few people to

NHS Trust

check the tool covers all areas. A more rigorous way to assess content validity is to
ask recognised experts in the area to give their opinion on the validity of the tool

Linda Shields PhD, FRCNA,

Professor of Nursing, University

Criterion validity

of Limerick, Ireland

Concurrent or predictive validity are both measures of criterion validity.

Concurrent validity uses an already existing and well-accepted measure against
which the new measure can be compared for example, if you were developing
a new pain assessment tool you would compare the ratings obtained from the
new tools with those obtained using a previously validated tool. Predictive validity
measures the extent to which a tool can predict a future event of interest for
example, does a tool developed to measure the risk of pressure sores in children
in hospital in fact identify the children at risk? Criterion validity is usually
measured using a correlation coefficient when the correlation is high, the tool
can be considered valid

REFERENCES
Carter DE and Porter S (2000)
Validity and reliability. In
Cormack D (ed.) The Research
Process in Nursing. Fourth
edition, Oxford, Blackwell
Science. 29-42.

Construct validity

This tests the link between a measure and the underlying theory. If a test has
construct validity, you would expect to see a reasonable correlation with tests
measuring related areas. Evidence of construct validity can be provided by
comparing the results obtained with the results obtained using other tests, other

Knapp TR (1998) Quantitative

Nursing Research. Thousand
Oaks, Sage.

(related) characteristics of the individual or factors in the individuals

Peat J (2002) Health Services

Research: A Handbook of
Quantitative Methods.
London, Sage.

validity is usually measured using a correlation coefficient when the correlation

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environment which would be expected to affect test performance. Construct

Paediatric Nursing

TAXI

is high, the tool can be considered valid

vol 16 no 9 November 2004