Validity and Reliability
Reliability refers to the consistency of measurement. It is also measurement stability over different conditions in which similar results should be gotten. Validity, on the other hand, is mainly concerned with the meaningfulness of the components of research. It is an indication of how sound a research is. In my own words, reliability implies mostly the degree to which an instrument of research produces consistent results. That is, every time the study is repeated, similar results are obtained. For instance, stepping on a weight scale repeatedly at different periods and getting the same constant results.
Conversely, validity refers to how accurate an instrument is at measuring what it is attempting to measure. For example, if I decide to weigh myself every Wednesday for two weeks and the weighing scale gives me the same results each time I weigh myself. That indicates that the weight scale is valid.
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Internal and External Validity
Notably, internal validity is whether the effects seen in research are because of the manipulation of an independent variable and not some other research factor. To put it differently, there exists a causal relationship between the dependent and independent variable. For example, conducting a job satisfaction survey just before the holidays after the staff have received a nice incentive, and the results show all workers are happy.
On the other hand, external validity is the extent to which the study results can be generalized to other people, other settings or other contexts. For instance, if the research participants are all males from a particular racial group, the research findings might not apply to other racial groups or females. Another example is that if one carries out a study in a controlled laboratory, the results may not represent what might occur in the real world.
