Revision summary
Reliability is consistency of inequality measures; validity is whether they name the real axis. Stable Census and survey definitions, and inter-coder rules, serve reliability. Unpaid care, caste honour, and capabilities test validity. Triangulation and named missingness are the practical resolution. A reliable index can still miss Weber’s market situation or Oakley’s housework.
Model answer
Copper italics in this answer — like this — are the key facts. Each one is unpacked in the Facts & figures rail.
Introduction
Research on inequality must measure consistently and measure the right object. Reliability is that consistency. Validity is whether the score is class, caste, gender, or only a convenient proxy. Resolution is design, not a slogan.
Body
Reliability in inequality files
- Stable definitions of work, income, and caste across waves of the Census or NSSO/PLFS.
- Inter-coder rules for occupation and for open-ended talk about humiliation.
- Test-retest only where the inequality itself has not shifted in the interval.
Validity
- Face and content validity: does “household income” miss women’s unpaid labour, as Ann Oakley showed?
- Construct validity: does a consumption line capture Townsend’s exclusion or Sen’s capability?
- Criterion checks against independent records, used cautiously.
Practical resolution
- Triangulate survey, ethnography, and official series.
- Name missingness: hidden informal pay, proxy male respondents.
- Max Weber’s meaning-adequacy: a valid class measure should still make sense in the actor’s market situation.
- Do not treat a reliable Gini as a valid map of caste honour.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD REL[Reliability consistency] --> DEF[Stable definitions] VAL[Validity right object] --> CARE[Unpaid labour honour] TRI[Triangulation] --> BOTH[Usable inequality claim] DEF[DEF] --> BOTH[BOTH] CARE[CARE] --> BOTH[BOTH]
Conclusion
Resolve the issue by separating consistency from truth, fixing definitions, coding jointly, and triangulating. Inequality research fails when a stable wrong measure is called science.
Quick related
Students also ask
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Analyze the importance of qualitative methods in social research
Next question on this syllabus topic (2016 · Q1(c)). View answer →
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If two surveys agree, is inequality well measured?
They may share the same bias, such as undercounting women’s work.
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Can ethnography help validity?
Yes. It shows whether a class or caste code matches living closure and honour.
Same topic · past papers
UPSC has asked this before
These previous-year questions sit on the same topic. Open one to practise the earlier ask.
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2015 · Q3(a) · Sociology GS 1 · 20 marks
Why is random sampling said to have more reliability and validity in research? -
2024 · Q2(b) · Sociology GS 1 · 20 marks
Do you think 'objectivity' is an over-hyped idea in sociological research? Discuss the merits and demerits of non-positivist methods -
2024 · Q3(a) · Sociology GS 1 · 20 marks
How do you view and assess the increasing trend of digital ethnography and the use of visual culture in sociological research? -
2023 · Q3(a) · Sociology GS 1 · 20 marks
What are the characteristics of scientific method? Do you think that scientific method in conducting sociological research is foolproof? Elaborate -
2016 · Q3(b) · Sociology GS 1 · 15 marks
Describe the basic postulates of scientific method. How far are these followed in sociological research?
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