Originally published here.
1. Read and critique the #egg research project conducted by your group. Analyse and evaluate the validity and reliability of your research.
Validity:
Overall our project was quite valid as the conclusion that we came to was supported by the main pattern created within our results table. The main pattern that was created was that the younger people are less concerned about health factors when deciding on the best way to cook an egg. Whereas, middle aged people are more health concerned. Although, when analysing the elderly (over 70) we realised that they were less concerned then the middle aged. We came to the conclusion that this could be due to the lack of knowledge of health when they were growing up. Also, if they lived in uneducated times it would be extremely difficult to change their lifestyle (eating) choices at an older age. Although, we came to a clear conclusion in our results table we did have quite a few anomalies. This shows a lower level of reliability!
Internal Validity:
Personally, I believe that the method we used to collect the data was relevant to the task. This was because we collected primary evidence (questionnaire.) This was relevant because we individually designed the questionnaire so we could get detailed information and we could direct it in the direction that we wanted the project to go in.
External Validity:
Although, the project was not very externally valid as only a small group of people were asked and 85% of them lived in a 20 mile radius of each other. This shows that the results could only represent a small area as certain health campaigns may be in place. However, a few of the results collected were from abroad. This helps to make the results a little broader.
Reliability:
Overall our project was quite reliable as a steady pattern was created in our results. Although, there is no definite evidence that if we repeated the experiment the same results would arise. This may be due to our lack of secondary evidence, showing that we had little knowledge of whether this questionnaire had been asked before. To add to that, we had little explanation on whether anyone else had ever found this pattern or whether it was just a one off. Furthermore, when conducting the research I asked all the people on the same day at the same time. This would alter people’s answers as some prefer to eat healthy during the week but treat themselves on the weekend. Also, people have different time schedules (work) on weekdays to weekends. Moreover, when collecting results the results were very basic one word answers so despite it was easier to make a conclusion from this the results didn’t give information if they cook eggs differently on the weekend.
Harvard system:
Although, our research didn’t coincide with the Harvard system as we had no secondary evidence, making it less reliable and harder to compare our results to see if there was a definite pattern. It also makes our project less reliable.
