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Recent Accounts of (Construct) Validity

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Validating Psychological Constructs

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Abstract

The chapter shifts focus away from the history of construct validity theory (CVT), in order to explore recent developments in validity theory more generally. Emphasis is placed on the contributions of one of the pioneers of late twentieth century, Samuel Messick, including his challenge to the “Trinitarian” view of validity in favour of the “Unitarian” view and his emphasis on validity as a property of interpretations, uses, and consequences of tests. This is followed by a brief review of more current treatments of validity and a comparison of these to the CVT paradigm. The chapter concludes with a presentation of developments in validity theory and standards of practice as manifest in the 4th, 5th, and 6th editions of the Standards.

Test validity is thus an overall evaluative judgment of the adequacy and appropriateness of inferences drawn from test scores. This evaluation rests on four bases: (1) an inductive summary of convergent and discriminant research evidence that the test scores are interpretable in terms of a particular construct meaning, (2) an appraisal of the value implications of that interpretation, (3) a rationale and evidence for the relevance of the construct and the utility of the scores in particular applications, and (4) an appraisal of the potential social consequences of the proposed use and of the actual consequences when used.

—Messick (1980, p. 2023)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada

    Kathleen Slaney

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  1. Kathleen Slaney
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Correspondence to Kathleen Slaney .

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Slaney, K. (2017). Recent Accounts of (Construct) Validity. In: Validating Psychological Constructs. Palgrave Studies in the Theory and History of Psychology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-38523-9_5

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