Brian's
Class Materials- FALL 2008 - SEYS 362
Queens
College/CUNY
Education Unit
Fall 2008
Characteristics of standardized tests
(Source: Educational Research by L.R. Gay)
Validity - the "degree that a test measures what it is supposed to measure "
- tests are valid "for a particular purpose and for a particular group"
- the description of the "norm group" is very important
Types of validity
- content validity - "the degree to which a test measure an intended content area "
- determined by expert judgement
- face validity - the "degree to which a test appears to measure what it purports to measure"
- construct validity - the "degree to which a test measures an intended hypothetical construct", e.g. intelligence
- a construct is a "nonobservable trait...which explains behavior"
- concurrent validity - the "degree to which the scores on a test are related to the scores on another, already established test"
- predictive validity - "the degree to which a test can predict how well an individual will do in a future situation
Reliability - dependability or trustworthiness
- the "degree to which a test consistently measures whatever it measures"
- expressed as a reliability coefficient
- a perfectly reliable test has a coefficient of 1.0