Personality Research Methods Pt. 1 Flashcards
What is validity in the context of psychological testing?
The extent to which a test measures what it is designed to measure
What is construct validity
The extent to which a test captue=res a specific theoretical construct, like how well a trait happiness scale measures happy personality
What are the two types of construct validity?
Convergent Validity and Divergent Validity (also called Discriminant Validity)
What is convergent Validity?
The extent to which a measure correlates with other measures that are theoretically related to it.
Give an example of convergent validity.
A measure of trait happiness should correlate with measures of laughter, optimism, and smiles
What is divergent (discriminant) validity?`
The extent to which a measure does not correlate or weakly correlates with measures that are theoretically unrelated to it.
Give an example of divergent validity
A measure of trait happiness should not correlate with shoe size or birth date
What is content validity?
The extent to which the items of a measure provide an adequate representation of the conceptual domain it is designed to cover.
Provide an example of poor content validity
A final exam that only represents 30% of what the professor converted in class
What is criterion-related validity?
The extent to which a measure correlates with an established or theoretically important standard, such as predicting a significant outcome.
What are the two types of criterion-related validity?
Concurrent Validity and Predictive Validity
What is concurrent validity?
The measure and criterion are evaluated at around the same time
Give an example of concurrent validity
Measuring trait aggression scale scores and the number of hostile behaviors during an interview session
What is predictive validity?
The measure is used to predict a criterion at a later point in time
Give an example of predictive validity
Trait aggression scale scores measure in 8th grade predicting the number of flights in 10th grade
