Validation of educational assessments: a primer for simulation and beyond

Advances in Simulation

Table 1 The classical validity framework

Type of validity^a	Definition	Examples of evidence
Content	Test items and format constitute a relevant and representative sample of the domain of tasks	Procedures for item development and sampling
Criterion (includes correlational, concurrent, and predictive validity)	Correlation between actual test scores and the “true” (criterion) score	Correlation with a definitive standard
Construct	Scores vary as expected based on an underlying psychological construct (used when no definitive criterion exists)	Correlation with another measure of the same construct Factor analysis Expert-novice comparisons Change or stability over time

^aSome authors also include “face validity” as a fourth type of validity in the classical framework. However, face validity refers either to superficial appearances that have little merit in evaluating the defensibility of assessment [26, 59] (like judging the speed of the car by its color) or to influential features that are better labeled content validity (like judging the speed of the car by its model or engine size). We discourage use of the term "face validity"

ISSN: 2059-0628