Definition
Criterion validity is a method of test validation that examines the extent to which scores on an inventory or scale correlate with external, non-test criteria (Cohen & Swerdlik, 2005).
Description
The ultimate aim of criterion validity is to demonstrate that test scores are predictive of real-life outcomes. The basic paradigm for this approach is to give the instrument to a group of individuals and to collect measures of some criterion of interest (e.g., health status, responsiveness to psychotherapy, work performance). There are two variants to this paradigm. The first is called concurrent validity , where both the test scores and criterion measure are collected at the same time. The second is called predictive validity where criterion ratings are obtained at some point after the test scores were obtained. Concurrent paradigms tend to generate higher validity coefficients than predictive paradigms because the passage of time will tend to attenuate correlations between the...
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References
Cohen, R. J., & Swerdlik, M. E. (2005). Psychological testing and assessment: An introduction to tests and measurement (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
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© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Piedmont, R.L. (2014). Criterion Validity. In: Michalos, A.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_618
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_618
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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