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Reliability and validity, two crucial dimensions of empirical measurement, enable researchers to say that whatever they are measuring can be relied upon to be dependable, and that whatever is measured is being measured accurately. Reliability can be proved, while validity must be inferred and can never be perfectly verified. Yet, despite this probability, credible and worthwhile research is still performed. Bibliography lists 6 sources. jvMeasrm.rtf
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that whatever is measured is being measured accurately. Reliability can be proved, while validity must be inferred and can never be perfectly verified. Yet, despite this probability, credible and worthwhile
research is still performed. The student may want to note that reliable information can be gathered as a direct statistic, perhaps from the
U.S. Census or from a schools enrollment. If the reliability components of a research project depend on multiple sources of information with complex interrelationships, these can be proved mathematically, e.g.,
the number of pregnancies reported per household in 2000 in the States of Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas of women younger than 18. Means, standard deviations and other statistically calculated information
can be used to determine interrelationships scientifically. Additionally, scientists can rely on a number of published works to determine reliable information, as in Fleiss (1981) Statistical Methods for Rates and
Proportions to provide the exact methods and rates to use. According to Rymarchyk (1996), Burns (1996), Asimov (1987), and others, the problem with
measurement in research methodology resides in the problem of validity. Validity is a question geared toward other facets of research that have subjective elements.
Many research projects are based, in part, on interviews, for example. The problem with interviews is not merely the subjective source (the researchers themselves, who are working to
prove a specific point), but also the form of the statement, from the hypothesis to each individual interview question. Anywhere within the process, these elements can be prejudicial to the
expected outcome, intentionally or unintentionally. The validity problem is attributed to two things, the reductionist nature of scientific inquiry, and to human
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