Validity and ValidationThe Understanding Research series focuses on the process of writing up social research. The series is broken down into three categories: Understanding Statistics, Understanding Measurement, and Understanding Qualitative Research. The books provide researchers with guides to understanding, writing, and evaluating social research. Each volume demonstrates how research should be represented, including how to write up the methodology as well as the research findings. Each volume also reviews how to appropriately evaluate published research. Validity and Validation is an introduction to validity theory and to the methods used to obtain evidence for the validity of research and assessment results. The book pulls together the best thinking from educational and psychological research and assessment over the past 50 years. It briefly describes validity theory's roots in the philosophy of science. It highlights the ways these philosophical perspectives influence concepts of internal and external validity in research methodology, as well as concepts of validity and reliability in educational and psychological tests and measurements. Each chapter provides multiple examples (e.g., research designs and examples of output) to help the readers see how validation work is done in practice, from the ways we design research studies to the ways we interpret research results. Of particular importance is the practical focus on validation of scores from tests and other measures. The book also addresses strategies for investigating the validity of inferences we make about examinees using scores from assessments, as well as how to investigate score uses, the value implications of score interpretations, and the social consequences of score use. With this foundation, the book presents strategies for minimizing threats for validity as well as quantitative and qualitative methods for gathering evidence for the validity of scores. |
Contents
| 1 | |
CHAPTER 2 Evidence for the Internal Validity of Research Results | 24 |
CHAPTER 3 External Threats to Validity | 55 |
CHAPTER 4 Validity of Statistical Conclusions | 65 |
CHAPTER 5 ConstructRelated Evidence for Validity | 82 |
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Common terms and phrases
ability achievement test analysis appropriate argument assessment developers assessment scores assessment users behaviors causal claims Chapter clients cognitive therapy conduct consequences of score construct or criterion Construct Validity construct-irrelevant variance correlations covariance criterion performance criterion-referenced test Cronbach cut score Depression Scale differential item functioning domain drug therapy Educational Measurement effect effect size error evaluate examinees example experimental factors focused gender generalizability groups Hawthorne effect hospitals inferences intended interactions internal validity investigate item response theory items and tasks items or tasks ment Messick nomological network patients population post-test post-treatment depression pre-test quasi-experimental randomly reading comprehension reliability rubric sample score interpretations scoring model selection self-concept skills statistical power statistical tests strategies structural equation modeling studies Test developers test scores therapists threats to validity tion total scores Type Type II error validation research Validity Claim validity of score validity theory variables