Final answer:
The type of validity that measures the degree to which a tool appears to test what it is supposed to is face validity. It's one of several types of validity, including construct validity, content validity, and criterion validity, all ensuring that a study measures what it's designed to measure.
Step-by-step explanation:
The type of validity that is a measure of the degree to which a measurement appears to test what it is supposed to is face validity. Face validity refers to the extent that a test seems to measure what it claims to and whether it is subjectively viewed as covering the concept it purports to measure. It is often assessed by experts or through common sense by looking at the content of the test.
Validity itself is a concept that describes how well a study or test measures what it is designed to measure. Other forms of validity include construct validity, which examines whether a test measures the concept it's intended to measure; content validity, which involves the extent to which a measurement reflects the entire range of material it's supposed to test; and criterion validity, which assesses how well one measure predicts an outcome based on another measure.
Reliability is different from validity, as it refers to the consistency of a measuring instrument, not the accuracy. A measuring tool can be reliable, consistently providing the same results, without necessarily being valid, which would mean it accurately measures what it's intended to measure.