1
Data Collection Tool: Reliability and Validity
Name
Institution
Course
Instructor
Date
2
Data Collection Tool: Reliability and Validity
Data Collection Tool: Questionnaire
In my study proposal, I mean to use the quantitative research method to examine the
sentence disparities between minorities and other groups. I will utilize an organized
questionnaire as the information collection tool to collect the needed information. This
organized questionnaire will be a standard collection of closed-ended inquiries to acquire
particular information from judges and prosecutors. The questions will certainly include a
collection of Likert-scale items, enabling judges and prosecutors to express their agreement
or disagreement with statements related to the sentence disparities between minorities and
other groups. I will develop each inquiry to determine various elements of the sentence
disparities between minorities and other groups, ensuring extensive insurance coverage of the
study goals. It will consist of group inquiries to collect information concerning the
background information, which may give valuable understandings throughout the information
evaluation.
Addressing Validity and Reliability
In addressing validity, I intend to examine content validity. An expert panel judges,
prosecutors, and legal scholars the initial questionnaire draft, ensuring that content validity
prevails. Their input will sharpen question phrasing, verifying the accurate measurement of
intended constructs and encompassing all pertinent components. Content validity within a
measurement tool demonstrates how each element fulfills its purpose (Surucu & Maslakci,
2020). Construct validity is another aspect I aim to explore. I intend to apply both exploratory
and confirmatory factor analyses to establish this. Using a pilot sample, exploratory factor
analysis will unveil underlying variables and evaluate whether questions align as anticipated.
Confirmatory factor analysis on the primary data set will reinforce the factor structure from
3
the exploratory phase. I intend to address Criterion-Related Validity. I will compare the
results of my questionnaire with an existing validated instrument that measures a similar
construct. This will help establish criterion-related validity by demonstrating that my
instrument produces comparable results.
On reliability, I intend to address Test-Retest Reliability, Parallel Forms Reliability,
and Internal Consistency Reliability. To address Test-Retest Reliability, a subset of judges
and prosecutors will complete the questionnaire twice, with a reasonable time gap. This
approach ensures the consistency and stability of the questionnaire responses. The responses
from the two administrations will be analyzed using a correlation coefficient (such as
Pearson's correlation) to determine the consistency of responses over time. A high and
statistically significant correlation between the two sets of responses would indicate good
Test-Retest Reliability. To address Parallel Forms Reliability, I will develop two versions of
the questionnaire with equivalent but slightly different questions to measure the same
constructs. Judges and prosecutors will be randomly assigned to complete either version.
Correlation analysis will determine the degree of agreement between the scores obtained
from the two versions. A high correlation indicates good parallel Forms Reliability,
demonstrating that different forms of the instrument yield consistent results. I will assess
Internal Consistency Reliability using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. This statistic measures
the extent to which items within the questionnaire correlate (Taber, 2018). A high Cronbach's
alpha value suggests that the items are measuring the same construct consistently, enhancing
the overall reliability of the instrument. This assessment will ensure that the questionnaire's
items effectively capture the intended variable without excessive redundancy or
inconsistency.
4
References
Surucu, L., & Maslakci, A. (2020). Validity and Reliability in Quantitative Research.
Business & Management Studies: An International Journal, 8(3), 2694–2726.
[Link]
Taber, K. S. (2018). Using Cronbach's alpha when developing and reporting research
Instruments in science education. Research in Science Education, 48(6), 1273–1296.
[Link]