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
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 --> BOTH CARE --> 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.
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