What is construct validity?

• A. The stability of a measure over time.
• B. The accuracy of a measure in predicting outcomes.
• C. How well a test measures the theoretical construct it intends to measure.
• D. Whether the test content covers all aspects of the construct.

Answer: (C)

Construct validity is about whether a test truly measures the theoretical concept it is intended to assess. It looks at whether the test scores reflect the construct itself and not other stuff. Evidence for this comes from how the test relates to other measures: it should align with other tests that measure the same construct (convergent validity) and it should be relatively unrelated to measures of different constructs (discriminant validity). The test's factor structure and its behavior across different groups should also fit what theory predicts about the construct. Keep in mind that having good reliability or broad content coverage isn’t enough on its own to establish construct validity; the key is that the test measures the underlying concept as theory defines it.