The Reliability and Validity of a Tool Research - Essay Example

Qn. 1

The reliability and validity of a tool can be determined in different ways. While reading a research study, the best approach to test the validity and reliability of a tool is to investigate whether the findings answered the research questions. In this case, a reliable tool will provide consistent measures that are analyzed to provide findings that answer research questions. In line with this, an unreliable tool will not be consistent. Conversely, a valid tool will provide an accurate measurement of what the researcher wanted to measure. In line with this, the results developed from the analyzed data that was obtained by the tool used in the research will answer the research questions. Effectively, a tool that provides findings that answered the research questions was valid and reliable since it measured what it was intended to measure in an accurate manner.

Qn. 2

In research, reliability is the extent to which an instrument provides consistent results in research. In effect, this is the stability of a tool to provide consistent results while used by different researchers. Based on the definition, there are three types of reliability that can be established. First, a determination of the equivalence is one example of establishing the reliability of an instrument. In this case, equivalence establishes whether the instrument used under different research studies produced similar results. The second type of reliability that can be established is consistency. The consistency of a research instrument is through the establishment of whether the same instrument produced the same results when used on the same subjects in different instances. Finally, another type of reliability that a person can establish in an instrument is internal consistency, which determines the extent to which items in an instrument measure similar things.