Validity

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Validity

• By
• Chris VanOrmer

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What is Validity?

• The extent to which a test measures what it is
  suppose to measure.
• Reliability is also a necessary condition for
  validity.

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Types of Validity

• Construct Validity-The extent to which an
  assessment accurately measures an underlying,
  non-observable characteristic such as motivation,
  self-esteem, or visual-spatial ability.
• Example- we might use our observations of
  students on-task and off-task behavior in class
  to draw inferences about their motivation to
  learn academic subject matter

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Types of Validity

• Predictive Validity- the extent to which the
  results of an assessment predict the future
  behavior
• Example- if the school psychologist tells us the
  IQ score a particular student has obtained on an
  intelligence test, we may be interested in
  knowing how well scores from the test predict
  students future academic achievement.

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Types

• Content Validity- the extent to which the tasks
  we ask students to perform are a representative
  sample of the knowledge and skills we are trying
  to assess. Content Validity is especially
  important in formal assessment.
• Example- a study is being conducted about biology
  questions regarding math would not be relevant to
  the study. The content of the study should yield
  accurate results while using pertinent subject
  matters.

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Darley and Gross Experiment (1983)

• Undergraduate student were told that they were
  participating in a study on teacher evaluations
  methods and were asked to view a video tape of a
  4th grade girl named Hannah. There were two
  versions of the video tape designed to give two
  different impressions about Hannahs
  socioeconomic status Hannahs clothing
  playground and parents occupation indirectly made
  Hannah seem as if she was from a low
  socioeconomic background and to others that she
  was from a high socioeconomic background.

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Continued Darley and Gross

• All students then witnessed Hannah taking an oral
  achievement test ( on which she performed at
  grade level) and were asked to rate Hannah on a
  number of characteristics. Students who believed
  Hannah was from wealthy surroundings, rated her
  ability above grade level. Students who believed
  she came from an impoverished environment
  evaluated her as being below grade level. The two
  groups of students also rated Hannah differently
  in terms of her work habits, motivation, social
  skills, and general maturity.

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Factors Influencing Results

• The Validity of any experiment can be affected
  positively or negatively depending upon
• - age, social status, sex, race,
• environment
• These are only a few of the many factors that
  may influence the results.

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Well Known Validity Tests

• Personality and IQ tests are a few of the more
  common validity tests used on people.
• Examples- MMPI( Minnesota Multi-Phasic
  Personality Inventory-2). This is a T/F test
  that is used to Identify people with particular
  psychological problems
• Rorschach Inkblot Test- This test is used to
  identify personal conflict and fantasies. These
  Factors allow psychologists to detect emotional
  disturbances.
• Stanford-Binet Test- a popular IQ test used to
  test intelligence. Its made up of Intellectual
  question and problems. Many Scholars dont
  believe that this test is valid.

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Works Cited

• Ormrod, Jeanne Ellis. Educational Psychology
  Developing Learners. 3rd Edition. Prentice Hall,
  2000.
• Coon, Dennis. Essentials of Psychology.
• 9th Edition. Wadsworth/Learning, 2003.