Ethnicity represents a social issue that many scholars seek to understand and interpret in a manner of ways. It means that the concept is and continues to be in many areas of study requiring the acquisition of statistics on the concept. As is typical of any research, validity represents a critical concept of understanding and viewing it as viable. It means that any studies on ethnicity will demonstrate their viability when the statistics prove to be reliable. It is, therefore, necessary to examine the existent relationship between ethnicity and research validity.
Connelly, Gayle and Lambert (2016) identify that ethnicity statistics will demonstrate research validity when their relationship with other variables like age or gender is shown explicitly. There exists a strong correlation between the concept and other social variables which means that their inter-relationship with ethnicity needs to be demonstrated in the statistical data to help improve its research validity. It is necessary that research does not develop statistics in ethnicity without substantial justification. It is also essential that they do not apply already existing data in an ad hos manner. These practices will help ensure that the research validity of ethnicity.
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Even when dealing with ethnicity and research validity, researchers recommend the use of differential validity as it will help elaborate the difference in validity coefficients that may exist among different ethnic groups. As ethnicity covers different groups, it may not be advisable to take a general approach towards research validity for the various ethnic groups involved in the particular study. Unlike zero validity which may only apply for a given group differential validity can be applied to different ethnicities and at varying degrees making it the most suited form of validity for any ethnicity studies (Berry, Clark & McClure, 2011).
It is clear that the relationship between research validity and ethnicity is somewhat complicated, but one can see how these two can affect one another. When conducting studies involving ethnicity as a variable, it is necessary to identify its relationship with other social variables which will help strengthen its validity. Further, differential validity would be more applicable and suited for ethnicity studies as it helps provide predictions for different groups at different levels.
References
Berry, C. M., Clark, M. A., & McClure, T. K. (2011). Racial/ethnic differences in the criterion-related validity of cognitive ability tests: A qualitative and quantitative review. Journal of Applied Psychology , 96 (5), 881.
Connelly, R., Gayle, V., & Lambert, P. S. (2016). Ethnicity and ethnic group measures in social survey research. Methodological Innovations , 9 , 2059799116642885.
