Assignment: Internal vs. External Validity

When reading and evaluating research articles, human services professionals should be able to determine whether that research study is valid and reliable. Establishing validity and reliability in research is important to trust the results from the study and to be able to apply those results to a larger research population.

When looking at different research studies, you will often find that when internal validity is high, external validity is low, and vice versa. In this assignment, you will further explore the interaction between internal and external validity.

Tasks:

Part 1:

Based on the course readings and research, in a minimum of 300-400 words, post your responses to the following:

• What is internal and external validity? When conducting research, why is there often a trade-off between internal and external validity?

• Is there a benefit in achieving a high level of one type of validity (internal versus external) over the other? Is there a way to design a study or series of studies to have high internal as well as high external validity? What would be the benefit?

Part 2:

Using the Argosy University online library resources, locate a research study related to the human services field. Share your purpose of research. In about 300 words, post your responses to the following:

• Evaluate the level of internal and external validity achieved in the study.

• Discuss how the interpretation of the data is affected by the level of validity (both strengths and weaknesses).