Validiteti

Validiteti is the Albanian term for validity, used across disciplines to describe the degree to which something is sound, defensible, or appropriate for its intended purpose. In research and evaluation, validity concerns whether a measurement, instrument, or conclusion actually reflects what it is intended to measure or assert.

There are several forms of validity commonly discussed in research design: internal validity (the extent to which causal conclusions about a study are justified by its design and data); external validity (the generalizability of findings beyond the study sample); construct validity (whether the instrument measures the theoretical construct); content validity (whether the instrument covers the full domain of the construct); and criterion validity (the degree to which a measure correlates with an outcome defined as a gold standard).

In psychometrics and testing, validity is supported through careful operationalization, pilot testing, and evidence from multiple sources. Threats to validity include confounding variables, measurement error, sampling biases, and poor measurement design. Researchers address these threats with study design choices, statistical controls, triangulation, and validation studies.

In logic and philosophy, validity refers to the structural relationship between premises and conclusion: a deductive argument is valid if the conclusion logically follows from the premises, regardless of the actual truth of the premises. A valid argument can have false premises and a false conclusion, but cannot have a true conclusion with premises that do not guarantee it.

Understanding validiteti requires distinguishing validity from reliability, which assesses consistency over time or across items. A measurement can be reliable without being valid, but valid measurements must generally be reliable. The concept is central to evaluation, measurement, and evidence-based decision making.