Construct Validity

Construct validity is concerned with the theoretical underpinnings of a measurement tool. We'll illustrate this with a case study in the field of personality assessment.

Case Study: Validating a Personality Inventory for Employment Screening

In this scenario, a human resources department is seeking to develop a personality inventory to assist in employment screening. They want to ensure that the inventory accurately assesses specific personality traits that are relevant to job performance.

Item Generation: Psychologists and human resources experts develop a set of items that are theoretically linked to key personality traits important for job performance. For instance, items may assess traits like conscientiousness, agreeableness, and emotional stability.

Factor Analysis: The researchers administer the inventory to a sample of current employees and use factor analysis to examine the underlying structure of the inventory. The analysis may reveal distinct factors related to the targeted personality traits, providing evidence of construct validity.

Convergent and Discriminant Validity: To further establish construct validity, the researchers administer the new inventory alongside well-established personality measures that assess similar and distinct personality constructs. High correlations with measures assessing the same traits and low correlations with measures assessing unrelated traits provide evidence of convergent and discriminant validity.

By employing these methods, the human resources department can ensure that their personality inventory is theoretically grounded and accurately assesses the desired personality traits for employment screening.