Construct Validity

Construct validity refers to the degree to which inferences can legitimately be made from the theoretical constructs on which operationalizations within the study are based. Simplistically, construct validity is about naming something (a program, an attribute) accurately. For example, when an evaluator measures student achievement, the issue of construct validity entails a judgment about whether the measures or the operationalization of achievement are really measuring student achievement, as opposed to, for example, social capital. Methods for establishing construct validity include correlating test scores with scores on measures that do and do not measure the same trait (convergent and discriminant validity), conducting a factor analysis, determining if changes in test scores reflect expected developmental changes, and seeing if experimental manipulations have the expected impact on test ...