In research methods we spoke frequently regarding forms of validity. Knowing and understanding validity is an important part of dealing with research and presenting it in a more objective manner. For a political scientist understanding the internal and external validity of research is something which becomes second nature after having it ingrained in us every semester. Somewhere along the lines we start to take these terms and apply them to our own lives because like everything else involving school it becomes part of our life and taking that part away is no longer a possibility. Instead, these terms bounce around in our heads and if you're like me they tend to come up in the most unfortunate of places.
Recently validity has bounced around from one end of my brain to the other. I've thought of it as I look over the last year and a half of my life and the time I've been with my current employer. During the beginning things were ok, as they usually are in the beginning. Sure there might be a red flag or two but honestly this was the first "real" job I had where I was actually "in charge" and for a few minutes it was nice to have those delusions of grandeur. As time has worn on though those red flags stick up more and more everyday and remind me of those initial fears and thoughts. The delusions are long gone, instead replaced by those steady feelings of dread and pain of the thought of having to face yet another day where I pry myself from my bed to face the stark reality of the day: no matter how hard I work it won't make that much of a difference because my boss simply doesn't care.
I can try and slice it some other way but quite honestly there is a general lack of caring, which is where the validity comes into question. There are two forms a validity, internal and external. I'll spare all the gory details, but internal validity are those factors you can control and external validity are those factors you cannot control. Internal validity was always a bit more easy for me to explain, that pesky external was much more difficult to wrap your mind around. Unfortunately in this case the external validity in this story isn't doing much to help me. The external validity is in fact more so what is killing me as I cope with the fact I can't control what my boss thinks regarding my work. A part of each one of us wants to know the hard work we do is seen and acknowledged, especially from the one person who is sitting in the budget meetings and can decide to say the department is spending too much money and we need to cut positions. While I don't think I'm getting laid off, it does not diminish the need sometimes to know the hard work has been recognized and valued.
Discouragement is a powerful motivator for doing the base minimum. Morale has reached all time lows and honestly I know why our staff throw in the towel and leave, we don't celebrate their accomplishments or tell them good job enough. Instead we focus on those negative factors and just push people to do more and more while not giving them the supports they truly need. And yes we shouldn't always look to others for the external validation of a job well done, but at the end of the day we want to know we are needed and our hard work doesn't go unnoticed. In the end it's that validation we sometimes chase after only to keep finding and searching because the most important validity comes not from external sources but those internal sources.
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