Constructing validity: Basic issues in objective scale development.

1995/09/01 by Lee Anna Clark, David Watson · 46 citations
Computer Science · Decision Sciences · #Advanced Statistical Modeling Techniques #Meta-analysis and systematic reviews #Psychometric Methodologies and Testing

paper · doi:10.1037/1040-3590.7.3.309

openalex publication_date 1995/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

A primary goal of scale development is to create a valid measure of an underlying construct. We discuss theoretical principles, practical issues, and pragmatic decisions to help developers maximize the construct validity of scales and subscales. First, it is essential to begin with a clear conceptualization of the target construct. Moreover, the content of the initial item pool should be overinclusive and item wording needs careful attention. Next, the item pool should be tested, along with variables that assess closely related constructs, on a heterogeneous sample representing the entire range of the target population. Finally, in selecting scale items, the goal is unidimensionality rather than internal consistency ; this means that virtually all interitem correlations should be moderate in magnitude. Factor analysis can play a crucial role in ensuring the unidimensionality and discriminant validity of scales.

Citations

• Factor analysis in the development and refinement of clinical assessment instruments.
• Objective Tests as Instruments of Psychological Theory
• Coefficient Alpha and the Internal Structure of Tests

Cited by

• EXID: Development and validation of the experienced impact of disruptions scale
• Pharmaceutical marketing and patient trust: How do doctor-targeted campaigns affect patients?
• The development of a patient-reported outcome measuring opioid use disorder financial toxicity: Establishing content validity and reliability
• Building paediatric eyecare capability via Project ECHO tele-mentoring in Australia
• The Prompting Brain: Neurocognitive Markers of Expertise in Guiding Large Language Models
• Development of a measure of experiential avoidance: The Multidimensional Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire.
• The Brief Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire: Development and initial validation.
• The Effects of Flipped Classrooms in Higher Education: A Causal Machine Learning Analysis
• Perceived threat of COVID-19, self-assessment of physical health and mental resilience
• Consumers' engagement with social media activation campaigns: Construct conceptualization and scale development
• What about Passive Innovation Resistance? Investigating Adoption‐Related Behavior from a Resistance Perspective
• How can we conceptualize behavioural addiction without pathologizing common behaviours?
• A New Instrument to Measure Prison Climate: The Psychometric Quality of the Prison Climate Questionnaire
• The entrepreneur and the ecosystem: extending and operationalizing EE theory from an embeddedness perspective
• Aggression, Suicidality, and Emotion Profiles in Youth: Links to Early Life Adversity
• Measuring Human Beliefs About Nonhuman Animal Emotions
• Application of multivariate statistical techniques for monitoring Melaka River water quality (2019–2023)
• Constructing validity: New developments in creating objective measuring instruments.
• A protocol for evaluating AI chatbots’ capabilities for low-resource language teachers
• Measuring Attitudes Toward Distributive Justice: The Basic Social Justice Orientations Scale
• Developing a service quality scale for artificial intelligence service agents
• The object of my intoxication: Examining the role of dehumanization, objectification, and alcohol consumption in intimate partner aggression perpetration
• Development and validation of a questionnaire to measure research impact
• Let the people’s will prevail: Self-uncertainty and authoritarianism predict support for populism
• (Cyber)Rape Culture: Development and Validation of the Acceptance of Myths About Cyber-Sexual Violence Against Women (AMCYS) Scale in Spanish and English
• The angry cognitions scale: a new inventory for assessing cognitions in anger
• CSR and corporate branding effect on brand loyalty: a study on Indian banking industry
• 家族の現実と子育て (特集/中教審答申をどう読むか) -- (中教審答申の分析・各論)
• Negative Effects of Internet Interventions: A Qualitative Content Analysis of Patients' Experiences with Treatments Delivered Online
• FIN-TIERA: A Tool for Assessing Technology Induced Errors
• Embracing environmental sustainability consciousness as a catalyst for slow fashion adoption
• Psychometrically derived 60-question benchmarks: Substantial efficiencies and the possibility of human-AI comparisons
• An optimization study of the graft polymerization of HEMA onto leather
• The individual and dyadic roles of neuroticism and conscientiousness in cardiac autonomic functioning of patients with cancer and their spousal caregivers
• The Importance of Item Wording
• Perfectionism and the Five-Factor Model of Personality: A Meta-Analytic Review
• Using Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness
• Free Newspapers in the United States: Alive and Kicking
• Beyond Economic Gains: Asset Transfer Programs and Psychological Well‐Being of Ultra‐Poor Women in Bangladesh
• ChatGPT-happiness scale: validity and reliability analyses
• The stereotype of accountants: using a personality approach to assess the perspectives of laypeople
• The contribution of supervisor behaviour to employee psychological well-being
• Predictors and Associates of Problem–Reaction–Solution: Statistical Bias, Emotion-Based Reasoning, and Belief in the Paranormal
• Person-organisation fit and turnover intention: the mediating role of work engagement
• Development, Reliability, and Initial Validation of the Fear of Institutional Betrayal Questionnaire
• Assessing tobacco dependence: A guide to measure evaluation and selection