VALIDITY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL-ASSESSMENT - VALIDATION OF INFERENCES FROM PERSONS RESPONSES AND PERFORMANCES AS SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY INTO SCORE MEANING

The traditional conception of validity divides it into three separate and substitutable types-namely, content, criterion, and construct vali dities. This view is fragmented and incomplete, especially because it fails to take into account both evidence of the value implications of score meaning as a basis for action and the social consequences of sco re use. The new unified concept of validity interrelates these issues as fundamental aspects of a more comprehensive theory of construct val idity that addresses both score meaning and social values in test inte rpretation and test use. That is, unified validity integrates consider ations of content, criteria, and consequences into a construct framewo rk for the empirical testing of rational hypotheses about score meanin g and theoretically relevant relationships, including those of an appl ied and a scientific nature. Six distinguishable aspects of construct validity are highlighted as a means of addressing central issues impli cit in the notion of validity as a unified concept. These are content, substantive, structural, generalizability, external, and consequentia l aspects of construct validity. In effect, these six aspects function as general validity criteria or standards for all educational and psy chological measurement, including performance assessments, which are d iscussed in some detail because of their increasing emphasis in educat ional and employment settings.