Validity

• Validity is the most important issue in selecting a test
• Validity


  • Tells you if the characteristic being measured is related to job qualifications and requirements
  • Indicates a linkage between test performance and job performance
  • If a test has been demonstrated to be a valid predictor of performance on a specific job, you can conclude that persons scoring high on the test are more likely to perform well on the job than persons who score low on the test, all else being equal
• General Categories of Validity

  • Face
  • Content
  • Criterion
  • Construct
• Face Validity


  The extent to which a test is subjectively viewed as measuring the concept it claims to measure
• Content-Related Validation


  • Are you measuring the content you say you are measuring
  • Important in Education Testing
  • Based on expert judgment
  • One issue is that educators write tests based on their own personal experiences
• Criterion-Related Validation


  • Relationship between test performance and specific outcome
  • Allows for predictive validation
  • Allows for concurrent validity
• Construct-Related Validation


  • Test measures the construct or characteristic it claims to measure
  • In the absence of "gold standard" criterion, test results should converge or be similar to other assessments of same construct
  • Requires valid content
  • Requires prediction of specific criterion