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A Level · Cambridge (CIE) · 9990

Evaluate validity and temporal validity

Judge whether a study supports its intended conclusion and whether its evidence still fits people and settings at a later time.

Section AL-VALIDITY · Validity, including temporal validity

Cambridge International AS & A Level Psychology 9990 · 2028–2030 · Version 1 · AL-VALIDITY
Exam scope and assessment notes

Original StudyForA teaching mapped to the Cambridge 2028–2030 syllabus. These lessons are independent study support, not Cambridge material, official mark schemes or awarded grades. No lesson reproduces a research article or Cambridge question. Human subject-expert review and full timed-paper grading remain pending. This is one of the five additional A Level methodology areas and supports Paper 4 planning; it does not replace teaching the selected specialist options or a timed Paper 4 practice set.

Before you begin

  • This lesson supports the 2028–2030 Version 1 A Level Psychology route. Review the AS research-method foundations first, then apply the method to the specialist options your school selects.

Work on paper. Try each question before revealing help, and explain why your method works.

Quick readiness check

A once-common social-media behaviour has changed greatly since a study was run. Which validity question is especially relevant?

What you will learn

  • Evaluate validity by examining the measure, procedure, participants and inference
  • Explain temporal validity and how social or technological change can affect findings
  • Distinguish temporal validity from reliability and generalisability

Validity is about the conclusion a study can support

Validity concerns whether the method and evidence support the interpretation being made. Ask whether the measure represents the intended construct, whether another factor could explain the outcome, and whether the conclusion goes beyond the sample or procedure.

Subjective measures, demand characteristics, setting and sample can all affect validity. An unfamiliar task may poorly represent everyday behaviour; a realistic setting may still leave important variables uncontrolled. Validity is evaluated against a particular claim, not awarded as a single permanent label to a whole study.

Temporal validity asks whether evidence still applies across time

Temporal validity concerns whether findings remain applicable at a later time. Social norms, technologies, language, institutions or diagnostic criteria may change how a behaviour occurs or how a measure is understood.

An older study can still be valid for the period and context it measured. To test a current claim, repeat the study with a contemporary sample and setting while keeping the central construct and scoring rule sufficiently comparable. If the method changes substantially, explain which differences may account for a changed result.

Separate time, consistency and population

Reliability concerns consistency of measurement. Generalisability asks whether findings apply to other people or settings. Temporal validity focuses on applicability across time. These questions can overlap, but evidence for one does not automatically answer the others.

A replication with a similar result supports consistency across the tested contexts, but it does not establish universal validity. A different result may reflect a genuine historical change, a new sample, changed technology, a different procedure or measurement noise; investigate these possibilities before deciding that the original finding was wrong.

Sources for this lesson

Pause and explain

A new replication uses a different age group and a different task. Why is a changed result hard to attribute to time alone?

Put the idea to work

Worked example

A 1990s paper reports that a printed advert improved brand recall. Can it alone establish how short-video adverts affect recall now?

Show the worked solution
  1. Identify what the old study actually tested.
  2. Consider whether the current platform and viewing context are meaningfully different.
  3. Propose a comparable modern replication and avoid dismissing the old result for its age alone.

Answer No. The older study may provide evidence about printed adverts in its own sample and context, but short-video feeds involve different formats and viewing habits. A modern replication should define a comparable recall measure, describe the new platform and sample, and interpret any difference as potentially related to format, context or time.

Try a topic test

Choose Easy, Normal or Difficult. Save your answers and open worked review after finishing.

Test this topic →

From guided practice to a new situation

Write your answer and reasoning first. Use a hint only if you are stuck. The model solution is for self-checking; your written work is not automatically marked.

1 · Guided

A study from 2005 tested recall of printed health leaflets. A school wants to apply it to short videos shown on students' phones. Identify one temporal-validity issue and a careful next step.

Give me a hint

Compare the media and viewing context, then hold the central outcome as comparable as possible.

Compare my reasoning
  1. The medium and viewing habits may have changed since the original study.
  2. The old result may still describe printed leaflets in its original context; age alone does not invalidate it.
  3. Repeat the research with current learners and phone videos using a clearly comparable recall measure, while describing context differences.

The result may not transfer directly because the format and viewing context have changed. A careful contemporary replication could use current learners and phone videos while keeping the main recall construct and scoring rule comparable; the older finding remains evidence about its original setting.

Look for these in your work

  • Contextual change identified
  • Original study's scope preserved
  • Comparable replication proposed
2 · Independent

A repeated study gives a different result, but also uses a new language translation and a new scoring rule. Explain why temporal validity cannot yet be isolated.

Give me a hint

List what changed besides the year of data collection.

Compare my reasoning
  1. The year changed, but the instrument language and scoring rule also changed.
  2. These differences may affect item meaning and score comparability.
  3. A follow-up should keep measures comparable or test the translation and scoring changes separately.

The difference cannot be attributed to time alone because the translation and scoring also changed. Those changes may alter what participants understand or how outcomes are recorded; maintain comparable measures or evaluate the changes separately.

Look for these in your work

  • Multiple changed factors identified
  • Measurement comparability explained
  • Practical follow-up suggested
3 · Transfer

Plan a replication to check whether a classroom finding about peer feedback still applies after a school changes to an online learning platform.

Give me a hint

Preserve the central feedback construct but record what the platform changes.

Compare my reasoning
  1. Use a current sample and define peer feedback consistently, including what counts as one feedback interaction.
  2. Measure the same learning outcome and comparable follow-up interval as the earlier study where possible.
  3. Describe differences in platform, access and interaction; protect student privacy and consider whether these differences explain any changed pattern.

A contemporary replication should use current learners, a defined peer-feedback measure and a comparable learning outcome, while documenting the online platform's effect on access and interaction. A result difference may reflect time, platform, sample or measurement, so the conclusion should be appropriately limited.

Look for these in your work

  • Population and feedback defined
  • Outcome and timing made comparable
  • Platform and privacy limitations addressed

Common mistakes

  • Calling a study invalid solely because it is old
  • Treating a reliable measure as automatically valid
  • Confusing temporal validity with generalising to a different population
  • Changing the measure during replication without noting the consequence
  • Assuming social change explains every different result
Recall without your notes

What can you explain now?

How does temporal validity differ from test–retest reliability?

Compare with the explanation

Temporal validity asks whether a finding remains applicable later; test–retest reliability asks whether a measure gives consistent scores across repeated use.

A finding may change over time even when each measurement is reliable.

After trying it yourself, choose your next review. This is your self-assessment.

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Make it stick

What evidence would you compare when judging whether a study's finding remains applicable at a later time?

If you needed the solution, close it and solve the problem again from a blank page. A correct answer is stronger when you can explain the reason for each step.

Keep learning Psychology

Course scope and assessment

Seven original lessons map all 15 AS research-method and methodological-concept sections to explained Guided, Independent and Transfer practice. All 12 compulsory AS core studies have original study-specific teaching and staged practice; five additional A Level methodology lessons cover research design and validity. All 15 Clinical, all 15 Consumer (2.1.1–2.5.3) and all 15 Health (3.1.1–3.5.3) Psychology sections link to original teaching and staged practice. All 15 Organisational Psychology sections 4.1–4.5 now have original teaching and explained staged practice; the six new 4.4–4.5 lessons bring the planning map to 92 of 92 indexed sections. Consumer lessons cover physical and psychological environments; decision models, heuristics and mistakes; packaging, selling and buying; advertising, self-monitoring, product placement, brand recognition and slogans. Evaluation boundaries are explicit: studies use particular products, samples, tasks and settings; gaze, recall, self-report, EEG indices, ratings, choices and purchases are different outcomes. Health evidence is bounded: Laba et al. measured hypothetical preferences; Riekert and Drotar raise a non-response concern; Chung and Naya's cap tracked openings, not swallowing; Chaney et al. was a short caregiver-reported pilot; Yokley and Glenwick examined immunisation attendance in one public-health setting. MacLachlan et al. report one patient, not a controlled treatment effect; Brudvik et al. compared separate child, parent and physician ratings in one emergency department. Chandola et al. found a cohort association; Wang et al. measured responses during a monitored arithmetic task; Evans and Wener observed commuters; Bridge et al. found mixed self-rated outcomes in radiotherapy. Janis and Feshbach measured short-term self-reports in one school; Lewin et al. tested a rehabilitation package, not information alone. Tapper et al. and Fox et al. studied bounded school and worksite programmes; incentive effects do not establish transfer or rule out reporting effects. Weinstein measured comparative expectations, while Seligman’s framework is conceptual and Shoshani and Steinmetz used a school-level comparison. These findings do not establish universal health effects or diagnose individuals. Need-theory examples use a child measurement study, not a workplace test; SMART is a practical checklist, not a motivational theory. Landry et al. compared reward framing with student volunteers in a lab; this does not establish universal effects in workplaces. Cuadrado et al. (2008) measured undergraduate evaluations of presented leaders, not workplace performance or hiring; this does not establish a universal gender effect. The historical 1995 Munchausen criteria are not a current diagnostic checklist. Cambridge’s 2028–2030 Reference List treats Oruč et al. (1997) as an example of genetic explanation although its participants had bipolar I; gambling disorder is listed in Cambridge’s Clinical topic but classified under addictive behaviours in ICD-11. Candidates choose two options, but all four remain listed so schools can select a route. The 92-section count is a planning index, not a Cambridge score. Remaining work is deeper coverage review, separate-year syllabus reconciliation, timed-paper practice and human subject-expert review. The separate 2027 and 2024–2026 syllabuses are not reconciled into this route. Practice is not official grading, a timed-paper simulation or human subject-expert review.

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