Published on
November 6, 2024
by
Julia Merkus, MA.
Revised on
November 11, 2025
Dogfooding refers to a practice where a company tests and evaluates its own products or product updates in real-life settings to collect feedback from its employees before public release. It comes from the phrase eating your own dog food.
Dogfooding can help businesses ensure the quality, usability, or reliability of their products and is a common practice in the tech industry. Dogfooding has two variants that are often combined:
Many companies use dogfooding before a product reaches its customers. This allows businesses to collect user experiences and identify bugs without harming their reputation. They process the feedback from the research process before the official release to actual customers.
Most companies also promote the internal use of their own software products after their release in order to collect more feedback on real-life issues other users might also face.
Dogfooding exampleMeta, Microsoft, and Google are examples of companies that use dogfooding during the development of new products or product updates. For example, Microsoft offers “Outlook Dogfood,” which helps them test the newest versions of Outlook before they release it to the public.
Published on
July 25, 2024
by
Julia Merkus, MA.
Revised on
November 26, 2025
Predictive validity refers to the extent to which a measure or test accurately predicts future behavior, performance, or outcomes. It is considered a subtype of criterion validity and is often used in the fields of education, psychology, and employee recruitment.
Predictive validity exampleA study finds that a standardized test score (e.g., SAT or ACT) is a strong predictor of a student’s first-year GPA in college. In this case, the predictive validity of the test score is high because it accurately predicts the student’s future academic performance.
By ensuring high predictive validity, researchers and practitioners can make more informed decisions and develop more effective interventions.
Published on
July 24, 2024
by
Julia Merkus, MA.
Revised on
November 26, 2025
External validity refers to the extent to which the findings of a study can be generalized to other populations, settings, and contexts beyond the specific one in which the study was conducted. In other words, it’s about whether the results can be applied to other people, places, and situations.
External validity exampleA researcher creates an experimental design to investigate the influence of alcohol consumption on sleep. They use systematic sampling to draw a sample of 100 law students from a local university who drink regularly.
They’re invited to attend a get-together where their alcohol consumption is moderated. They’re monitored while they sleep at the university’s laboratory to control for confounding variables and to reduce the risk of bias. At the end, they fill out a survey with multiple-choice questions about their quality of sleep. The results show that increased alcohol consumption correlates with a lower quality of sleep.
The external validity of this study is low because:
The study was conducted in an artificial environment (laboratory), which makes it difficult to generalize results to different settings.
The sample consisted of law students only, which makes it difficult to generalize the results to different groups.
The sample only included people who drink regularly, which makes the sample unrepresentative of the population (sampling bias).
External validity is important because researchers want to apply the results from their experimental designs (often conducted in laboratories or artificial environments) to the real world.
TipGenerative AI tools, like Quillbot’s AI Chat, can help you think through potential problems with validity. Just supplement any information you get with expert opinion and your own judgment.
Published on
July 24, 2024
by
Julia Merkus, MA.
Revised on
November 26, 2025
Content validity refers to the extent to which a test or instrument accurately represents all aspects of the theoretical concept it aims to measure. This concept, also known as a construct, often cannot be measured directly.
Content validity is critical for making informed decisions and drawing accurate conclusions based on the research data.
Content validity exampleA psychology professor creates a test to measure students’ knowledge of primary sources. The test consists of 10 multiple-choice questions, and one of the questions is: “What is the difference between primary and secondary sources?”
This question contributes to the test’s high content validity because it directly addresses the construct of knowledge about primary sources, specifically the difference between primary sources and other types of information.
In contrast, if the test included a question like “What is the capital of England?” (which has nothing to do with primary sources), that would be an example of poor content validity because it isn’t relevant to the construct being measured.
The test as a whole has high content validity if:
The test’s questions cover every topic relevant to primary sources.
The test doesn’t contain questions that are irrelevant to knowledge of primary sources.
Published on
July 24, 2024
by
Julia Merkus, MA.
Revised on
April 22, 2026
Ecological validity refers to the extent to which the findings of a study can be generalized to real-world settings. It involves assessing whether the behaviors, conditions, and stimuli studied in research accurately reflect those in the natural environment.
Ecological validity exampleA researcher wants to investigate memory recall. They draw a simple random sample of 100 participants. All participants are asked to memorize a list of random, unrelated words in a quiet laboratory setting. Later, they are tested on how many words they can remember.
This setup has high control over extraneous or confounding variables (which contributes to internal validity) but low ecological validity because it doesn’t reflect how people use memory in their everyday lives.
Ecological validity is a subtype of external validity, as is population validity. It’s mostly used in experimental designs in the field of psychology, medicine, and other fields that concern human behavior.
TipA generative AI tool like Quillbot’s AI Chat can help you think through possible validity concerns with research and is a helpful supplement to expert opinion and your own analysis.
Published on
July 2, 2024
by
Julia Merkus, MA.
Revised on
March 17, 2026
Emigrate means to “leave one’s country of residence to move to another,” whereas immigratemeans to “enter a country intending to live there.”
The difference between these two words lies in context and perspective; if the focus is the departure point, use “emigrate.” But if it’s the arrival point, use “immigrate.”
Although the words sound similar, there’s a slight difference in their pronunciation. “Emigrate” is pronounced like “EH-muh-grayt,” where the initial “em” sounds similar to that of “ember.” On the other hand, “immigrate” is pronounced “IH-muh-grayt,” where the initial “im” sounds similar to that of “import.”
Examples: Emigrate in a sentence
Examples: Immigrate in a sentence
My father emigrated from Cuba to the United States.
She plans to immigrate to Amsterdam after obtaining her PhD.
They emigrated from Ireland in the 1990s in search of better opportunities.
We decided to immigrate to Dubai to raise our family.
To escape social and political unrest, many citizens chose to emigrate.
My mother immigrated to the United States from Panama.
NoteMigrate also has a similar meaning and refers to the act of moving from one place to another over a long or short distance, either temporarily or permanently (e.g., “Many birds migrate south during winter”).
Published on
July 2, 2024
by
Julia Merkus, MA.
Revised on
February 19, 2025
A collective noun is a type of noun used to refer to a group or collective of animals, people, or things. Collective nouns are treated as grammatically singular, even though they refer to a group.
Collective nouns include both common nouns (such as “family”) and proper nouns, like “Apple” or “Quillbot.”
Collective noun examplesThe herd of elephants lumbered gracefully through the savanna.
Our team is working diligently to complete the project ahead of schedule.
The jury delivered a unanimous verdict in the courtroom.
Published on
July 2, 2024
by
Julia Merkus, MA.
Revised on
December 16, 2025
Cancelled and canceled are both correct spellings of the past tense of the verb “to cancel,” which means “revoke,” “annul,” or “neutralize.” The spelling depends on the variant of English you use:
In British English, “cancelled” with a double “l” is most common.
In American English, “canceled” with one “l” is the standard.
Nowadays, it’s also possible to say “someone is cancelled/canceled” when celebrities and influencers lose their support after a scandal. This use is informal and should be avoided in academic writing.
Examples: Cancelled or canceled in a sentenceMy membership was cancelled/canceled automatically.
The seasonal variations in revenue cancelled/canceled each other out.
Do you know that influencer who got cancelled/canceled after shouting at her kid?
The difference in spelling is also true for similar verbs, such as labelled or labeled, levelled or leveled, and travelled or traveled.
It’s important to choose one spelling and use it consistently. The Quillbot Grammar Checker can help you with this.
Published on
July 1, 2024
by
Julia Merkus, MA.
Revised on
March 17, 2026
Accept and except are two words that are typically pronounced identically (
), but they have different meanings.
Accept is a verb meaning “to receive” or “to agree to” something. Except is most commonly a preposition meaning “not including” or “other than.” A helpful trick is to remember that “except” starts with “ex-,” like the word “exclude.”
Examples: Accept in a sentence
Examples: Except in a sentence
I’m happy to accept the job offer.
I like all fruits except bananas.
Sandra did not accept John’s apology.
I would have gone to the park, except it started raining heavily.
Our company accepts and embraces diversity in the workplace.
He excepted his dad’s watch from the list of things to be sold at the auction.
“Accept” and “except” are commonly confused words with distinct meanings that can change a sentence entirely.
Accept” is a verb meaning to receive or agree to something, while “except” is typically used to exclude or mean “but,” highlighting a key contrast between inclusion and exclusion.
Clear examples and simple usage tips help you quickly choose the correct word and avoid common writing mistakes.
