Construct Validation of Experimental Manipulations in Social Psychology: Current Practices and Recommendations for the Future.

ABSTRACT: Experimental manipulations in social psychology must exhibit construct validity by influencing their intended psychological constructs. Yet how do experimenters in social psychology attempt to establish the construct validity of their manipulations? Following a preregistered plan, we coded 348 experimental manipulations from the 2017 issues of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Representing a reliance on "on-the-fly" experimentation, the vast majority of these manipulations were created ad hoc for a given study and were not previously validated before implementation. A minority of manipulations had their construct validity evaluated by pilot testing before implementation or via a manipulation check. Of the manipulation checks administered, most were face valid, single

SUBMITTER: Chester DS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7954782 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature