Face Validity

The subjective assessment of whether the measured variable appears to be an adequate measure of the conceptual variable. Therefore, face valid ity (also called a priori validity) can serve as a prelimi nary indication of the construct validity of a measured variable. Usually, face validity is high if the content (and the associated responses) of an item is intuitively appealing, as in the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (“I feel that I have a number of good qualities”). However, face valid ity may not always be a desirable characteristic of items. Items explicitly revolving around controversial themes such as racism may not be suited to assess the conceptual variable because participants might feel offended or do not want to indicate their true response, particularly when anonymity is not guaranteed. In such cases of high reactivity, low face validity might be a more desirable feature. For more information, see Shaughnessy, Zeichmeister, and Zechmeister (2000).