Validating test score meaning and defending test score use: different aims, different methods. Issue 2 (2nd April 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cizek, Gregory J.
• Is Part Of: Assessment in education. Volume 23:Issue 2(2016)
• Page Start: 212
• Page End: 225
• Publication Date: 2016-04-02
• Subjects: validity -- validation -- justification; Educational tests and measurements -- Periodicals; Education -- Evaluation -- Periodicals; 371.26
• DOI: 10.1080/0969594X.2015.1063479
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0969-594X

Abstract

Abstract : Advances in validity theory and alacrity in validation practice have suffered because the term validity has been used to refer to two incompatible concerns: (1) the degree of support for specified interpretations of test scores (i.e. intended score meaning) and (2) the degree of support for specified applications (i.e. intended test uses). This article provides a brief summary of current validity theory, explication of a critical flaw in the current conceptualisation of validity, and a framework that both accommodates and differentiates validation of test score inferences and justification of test use.