Assess Your Knowledge of Types of Validity in Psychological Testing

Types of Validity in Psychological Testing

• Validity in testing refers to the degree to which a test measures what it claims to measure.
• Convergent validity is the degree to which test scores are correlated with tests of similar constructs, while discriminant validity is the degree to which test scores are uncorrelated with tests of unrelated constructs.
• Both convergent and discriminant evidence are necessary for validating a psychological test.
• Concurrent validity evidence is observed when the scores from one measure correlate in a theoretically meaningful way with the scores of another measure considered to be the “gold standard”.
• Predictive validity evidence refers to the degree to which test scores are correlated with relevant variables that are measured at a future point in time.
• Consequential validity refers to the social/personal consequences associated with using a particular test.
• Criterion validity evaluates how accurately a test measures the outcome it was designed to measure, and is made up of two sub-categories: Concurrent Validity and Predictive Validity.
• Induction-construct development interplay involves developing a measure solely from an inductive perspective, and then refining it through factor analysis.
• Measurement as theory considers measurement as a fundamental theory development end in its own right.
• Reliability is pertinent to consistency in measurement, while validity is directly related to the nature of the trait supposedly being assessed by the measure.
• Reliability is a necessary but not sufficient condition for validity.
• Researchers have an obligation to review the social/personal consequences associated with using a particular test and to guard against adverse consequences.