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1- After reviewing the five basic types of reliability on page 154 of the textbook, comment on each as it relates to your research. (100 words and 1 reference)

Page 154 of the textbook:

Reliability and Validity Reliability is a measurement procedure that yields consistent scores when the concept being measured remains the same. Reliability may also occur when the measurement procedure yields a change in scores that is consistent with the change in the concept over time. To test for validity (discussed on the fol-lowing pages), reliability must be established in the measurement. If a mea-surement procedure is not significantly affected by chance variation or random error, it is reliable. The five basic types of reliability are alternate-forms relia-bility, internal consistency reliability, interobserver reliability, intraobserver reliability, and test-retest reliability. Alternate-forms reliability occurs when the practitioner compares a sub-ject’s response to different survey questions addressing the same concept. Another strategy is to reverse the order of questions, reverse the order of the scale, or change the wording of questions given to different subjects while keeping the concept the same. In the KOP study, subjects were given one of four different versions of the same survey in order to compare response pat-terns, which indicated that the KOP scale was reliable. Internal consistency reliability occurs when the practitioner constructs survey that has multiple measures measuring the same concept. In this design, the practitioner is able to ascertain whether statements measuring the same concept are highly associated with one another. In the KOP study, responses were evaluated for empirical statements measuring positive or negative state-ments about older people. Positive statements were found to be highly associated with one another, as were negative statements. However, positive statements were not highly associated with negative statements as they were two distinct concepts. Interobserver reliabilityoccurs when more than one observer measures the same event using the same measuring instrument. If the measurements across the observers are relatively the same, then the practitioner has a good degree of confidence that the measurement instrument is reliable. This tech-nique for assessing reliability is used primarily where the measurement in-strument being used is looking at complex phenomena that require manylevels of judgment. For example, if a social worker wants to study the social interaction of several children and requires measurements of physical inter-action, verbal interaction, and eye contact, the rate is involved in a com-plex task. This requires diligent training of the raters to ensure reliability ofthe measurements. If several raters observing the same children have simi-lar results, then the practitioner can presume that the measurement instrument is reliable. Intraobserver reliability occurs when the same observer measures the same concept at two different points in time. Clinicians who make clinical judg-ments at different points in time using one or more measurements often use this type of reliability testing. For example, a clinical social worker may assess client at two points in time using an Axis IV determination for psychosocial stressors and a global assessment of functioning. If repeated in a relatively short period, the ratings should be highly associated which would indicate in-traobserver reliability. Test-retest reliability occurs when a researcher administers a scale to the same group on more than one occasion over a specified period of time. If the instrument used produces consistent results, then the researcher considers Reliability is a measure-ment procedure that yields consistent scores when the concept being measured remains the same. Reliability may also occur when the measurement procedure yields a change in scores that is consistent with the change in the concept over time. In order to test for validity, reliability must be established in the measurement.ISBN 1-323-61115-0Social Worker as Researcher: Integrating Research with Advocacy, First Edition, by Tina Maschi and Robert Youdin. Published by Pearson. Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. Tapping the Scientist Within: Quantitative Research Methods for Social Work155the instrument reliable. While there may be some individuals within the group tested that have non-consistent changes in their test scores, the majority of the group tested should show consistent scores.

2- Review the four different subtypes of measurement validity on page 155 of the textbook. Identify which subtypes you will include in your research and provide a rationale for each included. (100 words and 1 reference)

A practitioner must consider many types of validity indicators when de-signing a study. A concept measured in a quantitative design must be related to other valid concepts of the same measurement. This is called measurement validity. To test measurement validity, a practitioner employs one or more of four different validation subtypes: content validity, construct validity, criterion validity, and face validity. Content validity occurs when the practitioner establishes that he or she is measuring a concept that has a meaning that is all encompassing. To assess content validity the practitioner relies on a comprehensive literature review of the same concept in conjunction with gathering opinions about the content validity from colleague’s expert in the same content area. The KOP study used an extensive literature review and the questionnaire was pretested on 10 col-leagues, two each, representing the five mental health professional subgroups studied. These colleagues were not participants in the KOP study. Each col-league indicated that the KOP scale was all encompassing in its measurement of knowledge of factual statements about older people. Construct validity requires the practitioner to demonstrate that the mea-sure used is related to other measures as specified in a theory, in this case, grounded in social work theory. These measures must be from deductive re-search so that comparisons can be made between the measurements in the practitioner’s study and measurements from other studies under the same the-oretical umbrella. Construct validity may also be tested by comparing a simi-lar measurement in other studies measuring the same concept, and measuring different concepts. If the measure correlates highly with the same concept, and has a low correlation with different concepts, the practitioner may use achievement of construct validity. For example, if the KOP scale was com-pared to other scales that predict knowledge of older people with similar re-sults (convergent validity), and if compared to scales that measure knowledge of children, adolescents, or young adults that do not show similar results, then construct validity was achieved. Criterion validity occurs when scores of one measurement are compared to already validated measurements of the same concept and the results are the same. For example, scores from a test predicting future success in law school can be compared to the degree of success in law school as evidenced by academic grades. This is called predictive validity. If two measurements are taken at the same period of time and the same results occur, this is called concurrent validity. For example, if a client who admits to abusing cannabis and at the same time is immediately administered a urine test that indicates recent cannabis use, concurrent validity is achieved. Face validity is a less formal measurement of validity. It relies on the practitioner’s ability to evaluate the measure and, through careful observation, feel that it is appropriate on face value. For example, if a practitioner chooses to observe (i.e., count) how many women and men purchase gerontology book sat certain designated book stores, the face observation would be the direct count of the number of gerontology books purchased by women and men. However, although the practitioner is confident about the measure, the conclusions of face validity may be false because many people purchase gerontology books through Internet retailers, which may produce different results. Chapter 7156IndependentVariableDependentVariableInterveningVariablesAntecedentVariablesFigure 7.1Types of Variables Found in a Quantitative Research Study Identifying Variables to Study In order for the practitioner to explain concepts that are being studied, he or she must identify many different types of variables that represent these con-cepts (Figure 7.1). Once the concepts have been represented as variables, the practitioner will develop research questions and hypotheses about the relationships between the variables. The first task for the practitioner is to identify the independent and dependent variables. This is the most basic relationship between variables found in a quantitative study. The independent variables-explains or makes changes in another variable. The variable that the independent variable changes or explains is called the dependent variable. In the KOP study, the independent variable is a mental health professional. This is based on the concept of a mental health professional. Within the con-cept of a mental health professional are attributes. These attributes are social worker, psychologist, psychiatrist, and psychiatric nurse. The dependent vari-able is the KOP scale. Therefore, the type or different attributes of a mental health professional determine scores on the KOP scale, which measures men-tal health professionals’ knowledge of older people. In addition to ascertaining the independent and dependent variables, social workers must consider other variables. These antecedent variables and inter-vening variables are important because they may have a predictable effect on the independent variable by creating possible sub attributes of the attributes of the independent variable. For example, if the independent variable’s concept is a social work student, the attributes of the independent variable may be a BSW student, an MSW student, or a PhD student. Sub attributes may be created when considering gender. A BSW student may be a man, woman, or transgender. The same sub attributes may be found significant for MSW and/or PhD students. Antecedent variables are concepts that one brings to the event, task, or sit-uation being measured. For example, many studies are interested in the effect age, ethnicity, and gender have on the independent variable. In the KOP study, the age variable had attributes of 18–25 years, 25–40 years, 40–65 years,65–75 years, and 75+ years. The ethnicity variable had attributes of African American, Asian American or Pacific Islander, White, Latino, Native Americano Alaska Native, Russian-speaking, and others. The gender variable had attrib-utes of male, female, and transgender. In order for the practitioner to explain concepts that are being studied, he or she must identify many different types of variables that represent these concepts. Once the concepts have been represented as vari-ables, the practitioner will develop research questions and hypotheses about the relationships between the variables

Part 2

Data Collection and Analysis Rubric

RESEARCH

In this section of the assignment, you will analyze existing data to support your research question and hypothesis. Use Table 12.3 in the textbook to assist you with completing this assignment. Remember, you are looking for a gap in services provided and a project/program solution as to how your proposal will fill that gap in services.

You will need to analyze the data you collected by using this worksheet. Use the five articles you analyzed in the Literature Review. For this assignment, five articles are required, but you may add more articles to the rubric if needed:

Data Collection and Analysis Rubric

APA 6th Edition Reference and Citation& Permalink

Article 1

Article 2

Article 3

Article 4

Article 5

Article 1:

Write a 20-30 word response to the following prompt:

Provide the study sample size and description for this article:

Write a 50-75-words response to the following question: What type(s) of data collection method was used? What type(s) of data analysis was used?

Write a 50-75 word response to the following prompt: