The degree to which a measure actually assesses what it claims to assess.

• A. Content Validity
• B. Construct Validity
• C. Consequential Validity
• D. Utterance

Answer: (B)

Construct validity is about whether a test truly measures the theoretical concept it’s intended to measure. It looks at how the scores behave in relation to other measures and outcomes the theory predicts. For example, a scale meant to assess anxiety should align with other established indicators of anxiety and show patterns of behavior associated with anxiety, while not aligning with unrelated traits.

To establish this, you examine how the measure relates to other constructs. Convergent validity shows the measure correlates with similar constructs (like other anxiety measures), while discriminant validity shows it doesn’t correlate too strongly with different, unrelated traits. Factor analysis can reveal whether items group together under a single underlying construct, supporting that the test taps that construct. Known-groups validity shows the measure can differentiate between groups known to differ on the construct.

Content validity would focus on whether the test items cover the full domain of the construct, which is important but doesn’t by itself prove that the test truly measures the intended construct. Consequential validity concerns the outcomes or impacts of using the measure, not its accuracy in tapping the construct. Utterance isn’t a valid term for this purpose.