Validity

Measuring what it is supposed to

E.g. a ruler may be a valid measuring
device for length, but isnt very valid for
measuring volume
Specific to a particular purpose!
Must be inferred from evidence; cannot
be directly measured

Reliability
Consistency in the type of result a test
yields
Time & space
participants

Not perfectly similar result but very closeto being similar

Types of validity measures

Face validity
Construct validity
Content validity
Criterion validity
1. Predictive
2. Concurrent

Consequences validity

Factors that can lower Validity

Unclear directions
Difficult reading vocabulary and sentence structure
Ambiguity in statements
Inadequate time limits
Inappropriate level of difficulty
Poorly constructed test items
Test items inappropriate for the outcomes being measured
Tests that are too short
Improper arrangement of items (complex to easy?)
Identifiable patterns of answers
Teaching
Administration and scoring
Students
Nature of criterion

Measuring Reliability
Test retest
Give the same test twice to the same group with any
time interval between tests
Equivalent forms (similar in content, difficulty level, arrangement, type of
assessment, etc.)

Give two forms of the test to the same group in close

succession
Split-half
Test has two equivalent halves. Give test once, score
two equivalent halves (odd items vs. even items)
Cronbach Alpha (SPSS)
Inter-item consistency one test one administration
Inter-rater Consistency (subjective scoring)
Calculate percent of exact agreement by using
Pearson's product moment and find out the
coefficient of determination (SPSS)

How to improve Reliability?

Quality of items; concise statements,
homogenous words (some sort of
uniformity)
Adequate sampling of content domain;
comprehensiveness of items
Longer assessment less distorted by
chance factors
Developing a scoring plan (esp. for
subjective items rubrics)
Ensure VALIDITY