validity and reliability in research example

However, student perceptions are rarely used in primary education for measuring teaching quality (Hamre & Pianta, Citation2010 Kyriakides, Citation2005). Furthermore, students have experienced various teachers, and as such can base their judgements on comparative observations (Goe et al., Citation2008). Students experience their teacher daily and thus may be an important source of information regarding the teaching qualities of their teachers (Ferguson & Danielson, Citation2014 Gaertner, Citation2014 Peterson, Wahlquist, & Bone, Citation2000). As this is generally not feasible for school leaders, school inspectors, and researchers, it is common for only one lesson to be observed, which causes problems regarding the reliability (and validity) of the measures.Ī less time-consuming method is the use of student perceptions of teaching quality (Goe et al., Citation2008). However, classroom observations are time consuming as obtaining reliable measurements requires multiple lesson observations carried out by multiple trained observers (e.g., Hill, Charalambous, & Kraft, Citation2012). In primary education, teaching quality is predominantly measured using classroom observations (Goe, Bell, & Little, Citation2008). Suggestions for future research are presented.ĭetermining teaching quality reliably and validly serves important improvement and accountability purposes (Timperley, Wilson, Barrar, & Fung, Citation2007). Higher correlations were found for scales with a similar content however, no clear pattern was apparent. Student ratings and lesson observations scores generally correlated moderately (ranging from r = .18 to r = .50). Student perception scales were reliable, although not all items contributed to the scales to the same extent. The analyses showed that student perception and lesson observation scales fit best in an 11-dimensional model, which was an indication of construct validity and discriminant validity. Three lessons of 39 teachers were recorded and rated by 4 raters. Grade 4 students ( n = 675) filled out a questionnaire that was used to measure their opinions about the lessons of their teachers. Furthermore, the student perceptions were compared with ratings of teaching quality by external observers. A Bayesian IRT-model approach was used to investigate the validity and reliability of student perceptions of teaching quality.

Validity and reliability in research example