

These two concepts are called validity and reliability, and they refer to the quality and accuracy of data instruments. When creating a question to quantify a goal, or when deciding on a data instrument to secure the results to that question, two concepts are universally agreed upon by researchers to be of pique importance. Differences Between Validity and Reliability If the wrong instrument is used, the results can quickly become meaningless or uninterpretable, thereby rendering them inadequate in determining a school’s standing in or progress toward their goals. a standardized test, student survey, etc.) is optimal. However, the question itself does not always indicate which instrument (e.g. These focused questions are analogous to research questions asked in academic fields such as psychology, economics, and, unsurprisingly, education. They need to first determine what their ultimate goal is and what achievement of that goal looks like. An understanding of the definition of success allows the school to ask focused questions to help measure that success, which may be answered with the data.įor example, if a school is interested in increasing literacy, one focused question might ask: which groups of students are consistently scoring lower on standardized English tests? If a school is interested in promoting a strong climate of inclusiveness, a focused question may be: do teachers treat different types of students unequally? Schools interested in establishing a culture of data are advised to come up with a plan before going off to collect it. Such considerations are particularly important when the goals of the school aren’t put into terms that lend themselves to cut and dry analysis school goals often describe the improvement of abstract concepts like “school climate.” One of the biggest difficulties that comes with this integration is determining what data will provide an accurate reflection of those goals. Schools all over the country are beginning to develop a culture of data, which is the integration of data into the day-to-day operations of a school in order to achieve classroom, school, and district-wide goals. You want to measure students’ perception of their teacher using a survey but the teacher hands out the evaluations right after she reprimands her class, which she doesn’t normally do.Ĭontinue reading to find out the answer–and why it matters so much.You want to measure student intelligence so you ask students to do as many push-ups as they can every day for a week.One of the following tests is reliable but not valid and the other is valid but not reliable.
