Question

Jacob performed an experiment over and over again in his quest to understand buyer behavior. He always got similar results. Jacob went to his manager with his results and told her that this knowledge could help them improve the company's marketing strategy. However, the manager pointed out that jacob's results do not prove an association between his outcomes and buyer behavior. In fact, the manager can think of a number of factors proven to be more effective in influencing buyer behavior. In this case, jacob's results lacked _________.
a. Validity
b. Integrity
c. Feasibility
d. Importance
e. Reliability

Answer 1

Answer: a. Validity

In statistics 'validity' measures if a test or an experiment accurately measures what was intended to be measured.

A test with a high validity will be highly consistent with the test's objective. When a test's results are valid the conclusions drawn from it will be solid and can be acted upon.

In the question, Jacob got the same answer each time he performed the experiment, so his experiment was reliable.

However, since the manager pointed out that the experiment did not measure what it was supposed to (association between his outcomes and buyer's behaviour), Jacob's test lacked validity.