Identifying Good Measurements Part 2 - Chapter 5

Face and Content validity establish that the operationalization look WHAT with the WHAT

Face and Content validity establish that the operationalization look CONSISTENT with the CONCEPTUAL DEFINITION

Face validity

The extent to which a measure is subjectively considered a plausible operationalization of the conceptual variable in question.

Content validity

The extent to which a measure captures all parts of a defined construct 

Criterion validity

evaluates whether the measure under consideration is associated with a concrete behavioural outcome that it should be associated with, according to the conceptual definition

Criterion validity is especially important for WHAT measures because the correlation can indicate how well people’s self-reports predict their WHAT

Criterion validity is especially important for SELF-REPORT measures because the correlation can indicate how well people’s self-reports predict their ACTUAL BEHAVIOURS

Criterion validity provides strong evidence for a measure’s WHAT

Criterion validity provides strong evidence for a measure’s CONSTRUCT VALIDITY

Known-groups paradigm

researchers see whether scores on the measure can discriminate among two or more groups whose behaviour is already confirmed

Convergent validity

An empirical test of the extent to which a self-report measure correlates with other measures of a theoretically similar construct 

Convergent validity

• Should have higher r values with WHAT

Convergent validity

• Should have higher r values with SIMILAR TRAITS

Divergent/discriminant validity

An empirical test of the extent to which a self-report measure does not correlate strongly with measures of theoretically dissimilar constructs. 

Divergent/discriminant validity

• Should have lower r scales with WHAT

Divergent/discriminant validity

• Should have lower r scales with DISSIMILAR TRAITS

The WHAT of a measure is not the same as its WHAT 

The VALIDITY of a measure is not the same as its RELIABILITY 

Something cannot be WHAT if it is not WHAT therefor a measure cannot be more WHAT than it is WHAT 

Something cannot be VALID if it is not RELIABLE therefor a measure cannot be more VALID than it is RELIABLE