Problem

What does the term “ecological validity” mean?

What does the term “ecological validity” mean?

Step-by-Step Solution

Solution 1

The study of ecological validity involves the materials, the methods and the experimental setup, which must be similar to the real world that has been studied. For the general validity of study, ecological validity is not necessary, unlike the external and the internal validity. External validity and the ecological validity are confused with each other, very often. They are closely related, yet are independent.

For example, during a court trial, the subjects might be asked to give the decisions, by making them think themselves as the jurors. However, in many cases they were just provided the subjective knowledge, without giving them the actual feel of the court and the case trials. Such experiments do not make a real impression of the court proceedings, the sense of fear in the criminal or the accused and the emotional attachment to the victim, the decisions that could be provided under such circumstances.

Hence, providing just the subjective knowledge of the court trials or any other real world situations, lack the ecological validity. If the real world problems could be simulated and the results could be produces by these simulations, then the external validity could be improved along with the ecological validity. The ecological validity can be of two types, the high ecological validity and the low ecological validity.

If our experiments are of high ecological validity then the results would be similar to the real world activities. For instance, it would be expected from the subjects that their adrenaline rush get increased along with the increase in the heart beats, such that, they are in the situation of the real plane crash.

It is also expected that the subjects follow all the safety rules. The experiment could be of low ecological validity when the subjects do not experience the increased adrenaline rush and heart beats approximating to those of the real plane crash survivors; or when the real plane crash survivors are unable to recall whether they followed all the safety measures or not.

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