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Validity and Reliability of the Research Instrument; How to Test the Validation of a Questionnaire/Survey in a Research

January 2016 · SSRN Electronic Journal 5(3):28-36

DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3205040
Project: Research Methodology ; Method, Design & Tools
Authors:

Hamed Taherdoost
Hamta Group

Citations (165) References (33) Figures (2)

Abstract and Figures

Questionnaire is one of the most widely used tools to collect data in especially social
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survey/questionnaire forms a significant aspect of research methodology which are known 20+ million
as validity and reliability. Often new researchers are confused with selection and members
conducting of proper validity type to test their research instrument (questionnaire/survey).
This review article explores and describes the validity and reliability of a 135+ million
questionnaire/survey and also discusses various forms of validity and reliability tests. publications
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: MINIMUM : COMPARISON
VALUE OF CV… OF VALIDITIES…

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Vol. 5, No. 3, 2016, Page: 28-36, ISSN: 2296-17
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Validity and Reliability of the Research Instrument;

How to Test the Validation of a
Questionnaire/Survey in a Research

Authors
Hamed Taherdoost hamed.taherdoost@g
Research and Development Department, Hamta Business Solution Sdn Bhd Kuala Lumpu
Research and Development Department, Ahoora Ltd | Management
Consultation Group
Abstract

Questionnaire is one of the most widely used tools to collect data in especially social science research. The main
objective of questionnaire i n research is to obtain relevant inform ation in most reliable and valid manner. Thu
the accuracy and consistency of survey/questionnaire forms a significant aspect of research methodology which
are known as validity and reliability. Often new researchers are confused with selection and conducting of proper
validity type to test their research instrument (questionnaire/survey). This review article explores and describes
the validity and reliab ility of a questionnaire/surv ey and also discuss es various forms of validity and reliabil
tests.

Key Words

Research Instrument, Questionnaire, Survey, Survey Validity, Questionnaire Reliability, Content V alidity, Fac
Validity, Construct Validity, and Criterion Validity.

I. INTRODUCTION
Validity explains how well the collected data covers the actual area of investigation (G
Gronhaug, 2005). Validity basically means “measure what is intended to be measure
2005). In this paper, main types of validity namely; face validity, content validity,
validity, criterion validity and reliability are discussed. Figure 1 shows the subtypes o
forms of validity tests exploring and describing in this article.

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Validity and Reliability of the Research Instrument; How to Test the Validation of a Questionnaire/Surve
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Hamed Taherdoost

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319998004_Validity_and_Reliability_of_the_Research_Instrument_How_to_Test_the_Validation_of_a_Ques… 2/11
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Predictive Va

Criterion Validity Concurrent V

Face Validity Postdictive V

Validity

Content Validity

Discriminant V
Construct Validity

Convergent V

FIGURE 1: SUBTYPES OF VARIOUS FORMS OF VALIDITY TESTS

II. FACE VALIDITY

Face validity is a subjective judgment on the operationalization of a construct. Face v
the degree to which a measure appears to be related to a specific construct, in the judgme
experts such as test takers and representatives of the legal system. That is, a test has fac
if its content simply looks relevant to the person taking the test. It evaluates the appeara
questionnaire in terms of feasibility, readability, consistency of style and formatting
clarity of the language used.

In other words, face validity refers to researchers’ subjective assessments of the present
relevance of the measuring instrument as to whether the items in the instrument app
relevant, reasonable, unambiguous and clear (Oluwatayo, 2012).

In order to examine the face validity, the dichotomous scale can be used with categori
of “Yes” and “No” which indicate a favourable and unfavourable item respectivel
favourable item means that the item is objectively structured and can be positively classif
the thematic category. Then the collected data is analysed using Cohen’s Kappa Index
determining the face validity of the instrument. DM. et al. (1975) recommended a m
acceptable Kappa of 0.60 for inter-rater agreement. Unfortunately, face validity is arg
weakest form of validity and many would suggest that it is not a form of validity in the
sense of the word.

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International Journal of Academic Research in Management

Volume 5, Issue 3, 2016, ISSN: 2296-1747

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Content validity Read
is defined
III. CONTENT VALIDITY
full-text as “the degree
Downloadto
citation
which items inCopy
an link
instrument reflect th
universe to which the instrument w ill be generalized” (Straub, Boudreau et al. 2004). In
of IS, it is highly recommended to apply content validity while the new instrument is d
In general, content validity involves evaluation of a new survey instrument in order to en
it includes all the items that are essential and eliminates undesirable items to a p
construct domain (Lewis et al., 1995, Boudreau et al., 2001). The judgemental approach to
content validity involves literature reviews and then follow-ups with the evaluation
judges or panels. The procedure of judgemental approach of content validity requires re
to be present with experts in order to facilitate validation. However it is not always p
have many experts of a particular research topic at one location. This poses a limitation t
validity on a survey instrument when experts are located in different geographical areas (
and Dwivedi, 2005). Contrastingly, a quantitative approach may allow researchers to sen
validity questionnaires to experts working at different locations, whereby distance
limitation. In order to apply content validity following steps are followed:

1. An exhaustive literature reviews to extract the related items.

2. A content validity survey is generated (each item is assessed using three point
necessary, useful but not essential and essential).
3. The survey should sent to the experts in the same field of the research.
4. The content validity ratio (CVR) is then calculated for each item by employing
(1975) ‘s method.
5. Items that are not significant at the critical level are eliminated. In following t
level of Lawshe method is explained.

CVR; Lawshe’s Method

The CVR (content validity ratio) proposed by Lawshe (1975) is a linear transforma
proportional level of agreement on how many “experts” within a panel rate an item “
calculated in the following way:

𝑁
𝑛𝑒 −( 2 )
CVR = 𝑁
2

where CVR is the content validity ratio, ne is the number of panel members indicating “e
and N is the total number of panel members. The final evaluation to retain the item bas
CVR is depends on the number of panels. Table 1 shows the guideline for the valid valu
for the evaluated item to be retained.

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Validity and Reliability of the Research Instrument; How to Test the Validation of a Questionnaire/Surve
Research
Hamed Taherdoost

TABLE 1 : MINIMUM VALUE OF CVR, P = .05, SOURCE: (LAWSHE, 1975)

No. of Panellists Minimum Value

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319998004_Validity_and_Reliability_of_the_Research_Instrument_How_to_Test_the_Validation_of_a_Ques… 4/11
3/26/2021 (PDF) Validity and Reliability of the Research Instrument; How to Test the Validation of a Questionnaire/Survey in a Research
5 .99
Download full-text PDF Read full-text 6 Download citation .99
Copy link
7 .99
8 .75
9 .78
10 .62
11 .59
12 .56
13 .54
14 .51
15 .49
20 .42
25 .37
30 .33
35 .31
40 .29

IV. CONSTRUCT VALIDITY

If a relationship is causal, what are the particular cause and effect behaviours or c
involved in the relationship? Construct validity refers to how well you translated or tran
concept, idea, or behaviour that is a construct into a functioning and operating re
operationalization. Construct validity has two components: convergent and discriminant

A. Discriminant Validity

Discriminant validity is the extent to which latent variable A discriminates from oth
variables (e.g., B, C, D). Discriminant validity means that a latent variable is able to ac
more variance in the observed variables associated with it than a) measurement error
external, unmeasured influences; or b) other constructs w ithin the c onceptual framewo
is not the case, then the validity of the individual indicators and of the construct is que
(Fornell and Larcker, 1981). In brief, Discriminant validity (or divergent validity) t
constructs that should have no relationship do, in fact, not have any relationship.

B. Convergent Validity

Convergent validity, a parameter often used in sociology, psychology, and other be

sciences, refers to the degree to w hich two measures of constructs that theoretically
related, are in fact related. In brief, Convergent validity tests that constructs that are ex
be related are, in fact, related.

With the purpose of verifying the constr uct validity (discriminant and convergent v
factor analysis can be conducted utilizing principal component analysis (PCA) with

Copyright © 2016 Helvetic Editions LTD - All Rights Reserved

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International Journal of Academic Research in Management

Volume 5, Issue 3, 2016, ISSN: 2296-1747

rotation method (Koh and Nam, 2005, Wee and Quazi, 2005). Items loaded above 0.40, wh
minimum recommended value in research are considered for further analysis. Also, it
loading above 0.40 should be deleted. Therefore, the factor analysis results will satisfy th
of construct validity including both the discriminant validity (loading of at least 0.40,
loading of items above 0.40) and convergent validity (eigenvalues of 1, loading of at l

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319998004_Validity_and_Reliability_of_the_Research_Instrument_How_to_Test_the_Validation_of_a_Ques… 5/11
3/26/2021 (PDF) Validity and Reliability of the Research Instrument; How to Test the Validation of a Questionnaire/Survey in a Research

items that load on posited constructs) (Straub et al., 2004). There are also other metho
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the convergent full-text
discriminant Download citation
validity. Copy link

V. CRITERION VALIDITY
Criterion or concrete validity is the extent to which a measure is related to an out
measures how well one measure predicts an outcome for another measure. A test has th
validity if it is useful for predicting performance or behavior in another situation (past, p
future).

Criterion validity is a n alternative perspective that de-emphasizes the conceptual m

interpretation of test scores. Test users might simply wish to use a test to differentiate
groups of people or to make predictions about future outcomes. For example, a human
director might need to use a test to help predict which applicants are most likely to per
as employees. From a very practical standpoint, she focuses on the test’s ability to dif
good employees from poor employees. If the test does this well, then the test is “valid” e
her purposes. From the traditional three-faceted view of validity, criterion validity ref
degree to which test scores can predict specific criterion variables. From this perspectiv
to validity is the empirical association between test scores and scores on the relevant
variable, such as “job performance.”

Messick (1989) suggests that “even for purposes of applied decision making, reliance on
validity or content coverage is not enough. The meaning of the measure, and hence its
validity, must always be pursued – not only to support test interpretation but also to ju
use”. There are two types of criterion validity namely; concurrent validity, predic
postdictive validity.

A. Predictive Validity

The survey is predictively valid if the test accurately predicts what it is supposed to p
can also refer to when scores from the predictor measure are taken first and then the crite
is collected later.in other words, the ability of one assessment tool to predict future per
either in some activity or on another assessment of the same construct. The best way t
establish predictive validity is to perform a long-term validity study. For exa
administering employment tests to job applicants and then seeing if those test scores are c
with the future job performance of the hired employees. Predictive validity studies take a
to complete and require fairly large sample sizes in order to acquire meaningful aggregat
brief, predictive validity assesses the operationalization's ability to predict something
theoretically be able to predict.

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Citations (165) References (33)

... Validity and reliability are themselves complex constructs regarding psychometric theories. In broad terms, validity
refers to the degree to which an instrument measures what it is intended to measure (Taherdoost 2016) . Reliability, on
the other hand, refers to the degree to which an instrument measures something consistently (Taherdoost 2016). ...
... In broad terms, validity refers to the degree to which an instrument measures what it is intended to measure
(Taherdoost 2016). Reliability, on the other hand, refers to the degree to which an instrument measures something
consistently (Taherdoost 2016) . Beyond that, validity is a multidimensional term. ...

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https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319998004_Validity_and_Reliability_of_the_Research_Instrument_How_to_Test_the_Validation_of_a_Ques… 7/11
3/26/2021 (PDF) Validity and Reliability of the Research Instrument; How to Test the Validation of a Questionnaire/Survey in a Research

Download full-text PDF Read full-text Download citation Copy link

... Validity is concerned with the correctness and reliance with the collected data. According to Taherdoost (2016) ,
validity refers to the accuracy and quality assurance what it is intended to determine or measure (Merriam & Grenier,
2019). Moreover, the truthfulness and realness of the study objectives or concept. ...
... The researcher subjected the questionnaires and interview guides to colleagues, lecturers from communication
department and the s scrutiny to ensure that had face validity. Taherdoost (2016) also affirms that, content validly is the
benchmark or a yardstick for measuring data collected. Hence, representing the content of concept measured. ...

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used to prepare the questionnaire and to choose the questions. (27)(28)(29) The purpose of the research was explained
to the dentists, and informed consent was obtained for participation in the study. ...
... (27)(28)(29) Both Likert and Guttman scales were used to prepare the questionnaire and to choose the questions.
(27)(28) (29) The purpose of the research was explained to the dentists, and informed consent was obtained for
participation in the study. Then, the questionnaires were distributed among the dentists. ...

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... A questionnaire is known to have face validity if its content seems relevant to the intentions of the research; face
validity is established if the questionnaire is measuring what is supposed to be measure. According to Taherdoost
(2016) , the appearance of the questionnaire with respect to viability, clarity, uniformity of style and formatting should
also be checked to establish validity. Therefore and before the final copy of the questionnaire was distributed, the
questionnaire was presented to a panel of experts in the field from both industrial and business backgrounds and to a
panel of specialized academics from Jordanian universities. ...

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... The research results on improving the quality of programs at larger institutions with SWOT analysis will be more
accurate if accompanied by validity and reliability tests to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats as
research instruments. "The validity and reliability of research instruments can be done by statistical calculations"
(Taherdoost, 2016) . ...

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... -two observers simultaneously study the same phenomenon/ agreement between raters). (193) The following is an
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... The most commonly used measure of internal consistency is the Cronbach's Alpha coefficient. It is recommended
that reliability must be equal to or above 0.60 (Taherdoost, 2016) . ...

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particular test, correspond to those of a previously approved measurement for the same construct [46] . According to
the correlation obtained in the present study, DFS has good concurrent validity. ...

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