Concepts of Reliability and Validity in Business Research
Introduction
In business research, how evidence is obtained and how well the process can be duplicated to verify results are two important features that help scholars, professionals and stakeholders make progress in the field. Building on ideas and processes that can help business leaders, managers, owners, administrators and investors is part of what makes research so vital and important. However, not all research is equal—and sometimes research is conducted that is filled with bias or that has a faulty method because the study fails to control for other variables or does not observe what it intends to observe. Sometimes the study is so poorly explained that other researchers have no way to verify the reports. In such cases, these studies could cause more harm than good were their recommendations to be implemented in an organization or place of business. Research is meant to shed light on new ways to improve the field, but unless the research can be verified by others via the peer-review process, there is no way of knowing whether the study has merit or whether it is actually something that leaders should strive to promote in their work (Nicholas et al., 2015). This paper will discuss what it means for a study to have validity and reliability in business research, why these concepts are important for business research, and how academics and scholars can ensure that both concepts can exist in business research.
Validity and Reliability
Validity in research refers to the study’s ability to measure the outcomes that it purports to measure. A valid study will be one that accurately assesses what it says it is assessing: the evidence it obtains and the conclusions that stem from the interpretation of the findings will be valid if there is no other explanation for the findings—i.e., no other variables or factors that might have possibly impacted the outcome.
A reliable study is that can be repeated again and again by other researchers based on the method described in your study and the same outcome will be achieved every single time. In other words, a reliable study is one that has been clearly explained, with all the parts regarding how data was obtained, how an intervention was implemented or how a hypothesis was tested accurately described so that the same exact study or experiment could...
References
Dikko, M. (2016). Establishing construct validity and reliability: Pilot testing of a qualitative interview for research in Takaful (Islamic insurance). The Qualitative Report, 21(3), 521-528.
Melnyk, B. M., Gallagher?Ford, L., Long, L. E., & Fineout?Overholt, E. (2014). The establishment of evidence?based practice competencies for practicing registered nurses and advanced practice nurses in real?world clinical settings: Proficiencies to improve healthcare quality, reliability, patient outcomes, and costs. Worldviews on Evidence?Based Nursing, 11(1), 5-15.
Nicholas, D., Watkinson, A., Jamali, H. R., Herman, E., Tenopir, C., Volentine, R., ... & Levine, K. (2015). Peer review: Still king in the digital age. Learned Publishing, 28(1), 15-21.
This introduces another theoretical and practical difference between business proposals and formal research, and that is the evaluation of their results. Typically business proposals have specific revenue and cost objectives associated with them, yet lack the precision of results that formal research has. Business proposals' variability is not as easily quantified and measured, and therefore potentially overcome as the more planned approach of formal research. Formal research methodologies can take
For example, if Jason wants to know the locals' knowledge of classical music, or their tastes in concerts, then he needs to quantify these responses so that each individual response can be used to build an aggregate response. The content of the interview therefore should specifically reflect the interview's objectives. It should answer the questions that Jason wants answered. Criterion-related validity should also be considered. Jason needs to ensure that
Researchers have an occasion to further organizational science and to make research practical by producing information that can impact changing organizational forms and circumstances. Pragmatically, academic researchers are not likely to get access to a company that is going through change unless the practitioners believe the research will be helpful (Gibson & Mohrman, 2001). There have been a number of calls to augment the significance and effectiveness of organizational science
Business Research ProjectArea of Research:�Strategies and Decision-making�Project/Dissertation Title:�Exploring the Strategies and Decision-making Approaches that Boeing should Adopt to React to the Business Challenges after 737 Max Crash.�Project/Dissertation:��This research project explores how the Boeing company strategizes and makes decisions specifically after the 737 Max crash, significantly affecting its business operations and model. The two crashes of 2018 and 2019 hit the company's core and had to reflect on its infrastructure and
Scientific and empirical research take time, and therefore detracts from the timeliness of such research. However, the truth level in such research is higher than in research that takes less time and is therefore more timely. The author points out that these are not the only factors involved in the quality of a piece, and that the purpose of publication should also be kept in mind when assessing the
Other pertained to the consumer's preferred method of going to the Starbucks, such as whether the consumer usually patronized the same Starbucks; frequency of patronization; preference for taking out beverages vs. eating in; and the usual size of the consumer's beverage. Finally, more subjective responses were requested, such as whether the store's customer service was good and the prices were fair. Classification of findings Findings were classified on a nominal basis,
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now