Question

Anton and his friends are discussing a study he read about in his developmental psychology class. In the study, the researcher made the claim that most middle school students who are bullied have low self-esteem. Clarissa questions the study, saying, “I am not sure that I am convinced. I am not sure you can really measure being bullied.” Quinn also questions the study, saying, “Which middle school students did they study? I am curious if they included both private and public school students.” Manish also is curious about the study, asking, “I wonder how strong the relationship is between bullying and self-esteem. Could you predict one from the other?” Clarissa’s concern is addressing which of the following? a. the study’s construct validity b. the study’s internal validity c. the study’s statistical validity d. the study’s external validity

Answer 1

the answer should be: The study's construct validity

A study's construct validity refers to the degree to which the experiments made in the study actually measures what it intended to measure. This can be seen on the study's standard of measurement and the correlation between variables used in the measurement and the actual phenomenon.

After hearing the claimed made by the teacher, Clarissa's immediately question whether the act of bullying can be measured.

She brought up an important point. The teacher never really specify what act considered as 'bullying'. Depending on people's perception, some consider a slight discomfort from social interaction might be considered as bullying, while other people might have the threshold.  Because of this, she can say that the study's construct validity is questionable.