Discriminant validity

Discriminant validity is when we want to check if different things we are studying are really different from each other. Imagine you have a bunch of toys and you want to play with them. You separate them based on what they do or what they look like. You put together all the cars, all the dolls, and all the blocks. This is like the researcher separating different things that they want to study.

Now, let's imagine that you want to know if your cars are different from your dolls. You would ask yourself, "Can I tell the difference between a car and a doll?" If you can easily tell the difference, then the cars and dolls have good discriminant validity.

Similarly, a researcher would ask a similar question but with different things they are studying. They want to make sure that the things they are studying are really different from each other. They don't want to study two things that seem to be different but are actually the same. This helps the researcher make sure that the results they get are accurate and meaningful.

So, discriminant validity is like sorting your toys and making sure that the different groups you made are actually different from each other.