Posted: April 3rd, 2015

Health Services Research Methods

Validity and Reliability of peer review.

Validity is a term when used in research doctrine refer to a study that is accurate and assesses a given specific areas of study the researcher is trying to understand and assess. Validity may be internal or external depending on the extent of study the researcher wants to measure. Internal validity may refer to the design of conducting the research and how the decision making process was undertaken to get the best results. On the other hand external validity refers to extent of which the study can be generalized and be compared with other research studies by other researchers in the same field of study. Reliability can be defined as the extent to which a given research project can give consistent results and outcome if several experiment are undertaken with the same procedure. The experiments are to be done using the same research tools and procedures even if different researchers are used the outcome should be similar. Reliable data from a research study should be relevant to the problems the researcher is trying to solve and thus should help with the decision-making process (Lippincott & Wilkins. 2007).

Validity measures how an instrument can measure a given characteristic in a research field accurately with the same results arrived at given a common procedure. When the experiment is carried and the results are compared they should give the same outcome. For a research to be valid the results should be verified by a peer in the same doctrine or study. A peer is a person who shares the same legal status in terms of education or even age. A peer can also be a person who shares your qualifications or abilities. Thus in a health and medicine field it’s important for research to undertake peer review for a given study. Peer review is important as it helps to check the validity of any results derived from a research study. More so in the field of medicine the researcher should consult more from peers to try and find long lasting solution to some of the ailments that affect people. Peer review will help to compare the best results for a given ailment and thus better drugs will be available to people (Gerrish & Lacey 2010).

Reliability on the other hand can be enhanced by undertaking peer review for different people in the same field of study to find the best result and outcome that can be relied by all. Having peer review helps in determining the consistency of results in the area of study. Two health officer researchers can undertake to review each others’ work on a given topic so as to try to expound more on the topic. This helps to eradicate any errors that might have occurred during the initial stages of the research work. Peer review helps in comparing the analysis of each health officer and trying to gauge the consistency of the data used in the research. Test and retesting can be done on the data so as bring out the consistency in results while following the required procedure. The review can be done by a committee to ascertain consistency of the data because human decisions are classified as reliable if different people come to the same conclusion and results. When peer review is done by a committee the process should be monitored to ensure that objectives of the study are met well. It’s thus important that the committee has access to information from professional in the same field of study to check for consistency of the information. Thus for a given health and medicine information to be considered valid and reliable it must have undergone a peer review may it be a colleague or a committee but it’s crucial to certify the information given by the researcher on the topic (Lippincott & Wilkins. 2007).