VALIDITY

Characterestics that refers

to the appropriateness of the
inferences, uses, and
consequences that result
from the assessment.
Concerned with the
soundness, trustworthiness,
or legitimacy of the claims, or
inferences that are made on
the basis of obtained scores.

SOURCES OF
INFORMATION
FOR VALIDITY

CONTENT-RELATED EVIDENCE
The extent to which the
assessment is representative of
the domain of interest.
Comes from the judgment of
people who are either experts
in the testing of that particular
content area or are content
experts.

INSTRUCTIONAL VALIDITY
-is concerned with the match between what
is taught and what is assessed.
-can be done by examining the extent to
which the test measures instructional
objectives.
Face validity
-shows wether the test seems to be a
reasonable measure of the objectives and
the domains.
- can be determined by examining the
physical attributes of the test.

Criterion related Evidence

Refers to the relationship between an

assessment and another measure of

the same traits.
Shows that a particular assessment
is providing the same result as
another assessment of the same
thing.
The extent to which the test is
related to some other valued
measures.

CONSTRUCT-RELATED EVIDENCE
the extent to which the assessment is

a meaningful measure of an
unobservable trait or characterestic.
construct validity can be determined
by examining the extent to which a
test can measure an unobservable
trait of behavior through theoretical
explanations, logical analysis and
statistical procedures.

Suggestions for Enhancing Validity

Ask others to judge the clarity of what you

are assessing.
Check to see if different ways of assessing
the same thing give the same result.
Sample a sufficient number of examples of
what is being assessed.
Prepare a detailed table of specifications.
Ask others to judge the match betweeen
the assessment items and the objective of
the assessment.

 Compare groups known to differ on what

is being assessed.
Compare scores taken before to those
taken after instruction.
Compare predicted consequences to
actual consequences.
Compare scores on similar, but different
traits.
Provide adequate time to complete the
assessment.
Ensure appropriate vocabulary, sentence
structure and item difficulty.

 Ask questions first.

Use different methods to assess the

same thing.
Use only for intended purposes.