The Concept of Validity in the Interpretation of Test Scores

Abstract

IF asked to define &dquo;validity,&dquo; most psychologists would prob-ably agree that validity is the closeness of agreement of a test with some independently observed criterion of the behavior under consideration. It is only as a measure of a specifically defined criterion that a test can be objectively validated at all. For example, unless we define &dquo;intelligence&dquo; as that com-bination of aptitudes required for successful school achieve-ment, or for survival on a certain type of job, or in terms of some other observable criterion, we can never either prove or disprove that a particular test is a valid measure of &dquo;intelli-gence.&dquo; The criterion may be expressed in very broad and general terms, such as &dquo;those behavior characteristics in which older children in our culture differ from younger children reared in the same culture,&dquo; but, however expressed, it defines the functions measured by the particular test. To claim that a

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