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November 28, 2014 / C H Thompson

Validity

by Sam Cook

Valid social research data is research data which uncovers the truth to the extent the data is an ‘accurate reflection of social reality’ Haralambos and Holborn, 2000. As previously mentioned on the reliability page data can be valid without being reliable and visa versa.

For example closed questionnaires produce reliable quantitative data but the validity of the data can be questioned for example because the respondent lied when completing a survey or because the questionnaire didn’t have a desired category for the respondent.

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