Abstract
In an attempt to frame the immediate backdrop within which the notion came to life that psychological constructs constitute a unique category requiring a novel theory of validity, this chapter reviews the dialogue and debate in the 1930s and 1940s surrounding both the growing fragmentation of validity and the role and utility of so-called hypothetical constructs in relation to intervening variables. The emergence of a new conception of validity is described as a major impetus for the creation of the construct validity framework as articulated in two foundational documents—the “Technical Recommendations” (APA et al. 1954) and Cronbach and Meehl’s (1955) landmark paper. The chapter concludes with a summary of the central theses of construct validity theory (CVT) implicit in these works.
Validity is not an absolute characteristic of a test. There are several types of validity depending on the type of inference for which the test is to be used.
—APA Committee on Test Standards (1952, p. 467)
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Slaney, K. (2017). The Birth of Construct Validity Theory. In: Validating Psychological Constructs. Palgrave Studies in the Theory and History of Psychology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-38523-9_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-38523-9_3
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