BCBA Task List 5: D 2 - Distinguishing between internal and external validity.

When conducting research and clinical interventions, it is important to demonstrate that our interventions have both internal and external validity. Internal validity means that an experiment has shown that measures of the dependent variable are changed due to the introduction of the independent variable, or intervention, and not extraneous uncontrolled or unknown variables. If you can demonstrate that the independent variable was responsible for the change this means that the experiment or treatment has a high degree of validity.