PSYC37H3 Chapter 4: Chapter 4.docx
Document Summary
Note: reliability is a necessary but not a sufficient precursor of validity. Test developers have a responsibility to demonstrate that new instruments fulfill the purposes for which they are designed. Validity a test is valid to the extent that inferences made from it are appropriate, meaningful and useful. A test score is per se meaningless until the examiner draw inferences from it based on the test manual or other research findings. Validity reflects an evolutionary, research-based judgement of how adequately a test measures the attribute it was designed to measure. Traditionally the different ways of accumulating validity evidence have been grouped into categories: content validity, criterion related validity, construct validity. If the sample (specific items on the test) is representative of the population (all possible items) then the test possess content validity. Content validity is a useful concept when a great deal is known about the variable that the researcher wishes to measure.
