Scale Validity Flashcards
What is Validity
Degree to which a test measures what it is supposed to measure
- Also related to proposed usefulness of measures
- Legitimacy of ones interpretations of a test scores
What is validity based on?
Empirical evidence and theory
ex. strong data supports Students who score better on SAT do better in college
Are handwriting or color preferences meaningful tests and useful measures of personality?
No because there is a lack of scientific evidence for color preference or handwriting as valid measures of personality.
What happens without test Validity?
test-based decisions about individuals could be misinformed, scientifically meaningless, and potentially even harmful
What is the difference of validity in a study vs an individual
Study: Accuracy of interpretation of test results
Individual: Accuracy of interpretation on individuals scores
What is the most important type of validity?
Construct Validity
What is Construct Validity?
The degree to which test scores can be accurately interpreted as reflecting a particular construct.
What is Construct Validity Factor Analysis (internal structure)
Statistical procedure used to evaluate the internal structure or dimensionality of psychological tests – Exploratory and Confirmatory
What can Factor Analysis help us do?
- Identify presence and nature of factors existing within a set of items
- Reveal associations among factors. dimensions within a multidimensional test
- Understand the meaning of each factor within a test
What is Content Validity?
- Degree to which actual content matches expected content.
- Degree to which the content of a measure truly reflects the full domain of the construct for which it is being used.
- Provided by experts who have a deep understanding of the content
What is the content validity index?
Multiple experts provide quantitative ratings of test content
- Either a 5-7 point response scale rating: relevance, representativeness, specificity, clarity of items
What score would Statistics have on a content validity index?
1
Face Validity
The degree to which a measure appears to be related to a specific construct, in the judgment of nonexperts, such as test takers.
Why is face validity important?
It might influence test takers’ motivation to respond in a serious and honest manner and question its legitimacy or relevance of the entire testing procedure
What is associative validity?
Involves the match between a measure’s actual associations with other measures and the associations that the test should have with those other measures
What is Convergent Validity
Degree to which test scores correlate (either positively or
negatively) with other measures that they should be correlated with.
- Criterion, Concurrent, and predictive validity are just varities of this
- Two measures of something like self esteem should have strong positive correlations with one another
What is Criterion Validity?
The degree to which test scores are related to a particularly important criterion variable that they should be correlated with.
- Differentiates between groups of people or make predictions about the future
What is Concurrent Validity?
The degree to which test scores are correlated (related to) with other criterion variables that are measured at the same time as the primary test is completed.
What is Predictive Validity?
The degree to which test scores are correlated with criterion variable that is measured at a future time than when the primary test is completed.
What is Discriminant Validity?
Degree to which test scores are uncorrelated (or weakly correlated) with other tests
of unrelated constructs (that they should not be correlated with).
Reliability vs. Validity
Reliability: Degree to which differences in test scores reflect differences among people in a skill or trait
Validity: A property of interpretation of test scores; Tied to theory and implications of test scores
Validity requires reliability. Reliability is necessary but not sufficient for validity
Ceiling Effect
person easily scores the maximum possible on a test so that the test no longer is able to measure the full higher extent of person’s ability
- A true score for a ceiling effect could be higher than the highest scale score
