Construct Validity Opinion Research Paper
Construct Validity Opinion Paper
Sarah Phillips
Wilmington University
Construct Validity Opinion Paper
Most, but not all, tests are designed to measure skills, abilities, or traits that are and are not directly observable. The process of using a test score as a sample of behavior in order to draw conclusions about a larger domain of behaviors is characteristic of most educational and psychological tests (Miller, et. al., 2013). Responsible test developers and publishers must be able to demonstrate that it is possible to use the sample of behaviors measured by a test to make valid inferences about an examinee's ability to perform tasks that represent the larger domain of interest.
Construct validity pertains to the correspondence between your concepts and the actual measurements that you use (Miller, et. al., 2013). A measure with high construct validity accurately reflects the abstract concept that you are trying to study. Since we can only know about our concepts through the concrete measures that we use; you can see that construct validity is extremely important. It also becomes clear why it is so important to have very clear conceptual definitions of our variables. Only then can we begin to assess whether our measures, in fact, …show more content…
al., 2013). At least two constructs are measured. Each construct is measured at least two different ways, and the type of measures is repeated across constructs. Typically, under conditions of high construct validity, correlations are high for the same construct across a host of different measures (Miller, et. al., 2013). Correlations are low across constructs that are different but measured using the same general technique. Under low construct validity, the reverse holds (Miller, et. al., 2013). Correlations are high across traits using the same method but low for the same trait measured in different
Sarah Phillips
Wilmington University
Construct Validity Opinion Paper
Most, but not all, tests are designed to measure skills, abilities, or traits that are and are not directly observable. The process of using a test score as a sample of behavior in order to draw conclusions about a larger domain of behaviors is characteristic of most educational and psychological tests (Miller, et. al., 2013). Responsible test developers and publishers must be able to demonstrate that it is possible to use the sample of behaviors measured by a test to make valid inferences about an examinee's ability to perform tasks that represent the larger domain of interest.
Construct validity pertains to the correspondence between your concepts and the actual measurements that you use (Miller, et. al., 2013). A measure with high construct validity accurately reflects the abstract concept that you are trying to study. Since we can only know about our concepts through the concrete measures that we use; you can see that construct validity is extremely important. It also becomes clear why it is so important to have very clear conceptual definitions of our variables. Only then can we begin to assess whether our measures, in fact, …show more content…
al., 2013). At least two constructs are measured. Each construct is measured at least two different ways, and the type of measures is repeated across constructs. Typically, under conditions of high construct validity, correlations are high for the same construct across a host of different measures (Miller, et. al., 2013). Correlations are low across constructs that are different but measured using the same general technique. Under low construct validity, the reverse holds (Miller, et. al., 2013). Correlations are high across traits using the same method but low for the same trait measured in different