Sample interview questions: How do you address issues of construct validity and measurement error in your analysis of sociological data?
Sample answer:
Addressing Construct Validity
- Operational definition: Clearly define the concept being measured and specify the observable indicators used.
- Content validity: Ensure that the indicators adequately represent the concept.
- Convergent validity: Compare results with data from other measures purporting to capture the same concept.
- Discriminant validity: Demonstrate that the measure distinguishes between different concepts.
- Nomological validity: Examine whether the measure correlates with other variables as predicted by theory.
Addressing Measurement Error
- Reliability: Assess the consistency and accuracy of the measure over time and across different observers.
- Data cleaning: Remove or correct outliers and missing data.
- Random sampling: Read full answer