Managing Threats to Internal Validity in Quantitative and Qualitative Research: Some Basic Considerations

The main thrust of the paper was to examine factors that can pose threat to internal validity in both Qualitative and Quantitative research. In order to accomplish this task, the concept of validity and its various types such as content, construct and criterion-related validity were analyzed. The paper also highlighted some factors to be considered in order to achieve internal validity in both quantitative and qualitative research methods namely Maturation, Testing, Instrumentation and History among others. Although the paper acknowledged impossibility of eliminating totally the threats to internal validity especially when research is conducted outside the laboratory setting; it is the position of the paper that, good understanding and knowledge of the threats or factors that can jeopardize internal validity as highlighted in this paper can help to mitigate those threats to a minimum level and enhance the quality of the instruments and of course findings. On the basis of this conclusion, the paper suggested among other things on the need to consider the time of experiment, the use of a control group, selected from the same population as the experimental group and which experiences the same concurrent history as the experimental group are very important strategies for reducing threats to internal validity. Keyword: validity, internal validity, validity of measurement and experimental validity