Content Validity

Claims such as the adverse effects that social media inflicted on humans is not really new to us. However, lately, Statista posted that the leading social networking firm, Facebook, conducted a study aiming to lessen the social pressure and competition felt by social media users. As part of the test, they only revealed a few likes on Instagram and Facebook posts. The result of the experiment ranked Instagram as the number one social media channel that harms the mental health of people aged 14 to 24 years. Meanwhile, the test also revealed that YouTube has the most positive impact on the mental state of young people.

Now, aside from the fact that the source of the statistic is well-established, what other factors are your basis that the test is reliable? In the analysis that we mentioned earlier, the researchers considered several factors such as anxiety, depression, loneliness, self-image, harassment, and the opportunity to express oneself to ensure that the data they would get is relevant to the study. As a researcher, it is crucial to cover all the necessary factors to ensure the quality of a test. Content validity of the experiment, along with reliability, fairness, and legal defensibility, are the factors that you should take into account.

What Is Content Validity?

Developed by C. H. Lawshe, content validity measures the effectiveness of a test in regulating the behavior of its subject. Through this research methodology, you can verify that the experiments your team conducts really intends to measure the subject area. It basically covers all aspects of a given construct. This validity is also known as logical validity. To provide you an idea of what a construct is, it is a theory that contains many conceptual elements, which makes it subjective. Thus, with content validity, you can assess all the aspects of this theory.

Difference Between Content Validity and Face Validity

Both content validity and face validity are under the category of translational validity, but some textbooks consider content validity to have stronger effects than face validity. As you may have probably known, content validity relies more on theories. Unlike content validity, face validity refers to the judgment of whether the test looks valid to the technically untrained observers such as the ones who are going to take the test and administrators who will decide the use of the test.

10+ Content Validity Examples

If you are looking for documents where you can apply a content validity approach, you should check this section of the article. Utilizing a content validity approach to research and other projects can be complicated. Thus, we included a number of documents that you can use as a reference or a guide on applying the said method to your project.

1. Content Validity Evidence in Test Development Template

2. Face and Content Validity Evaluation for Instructional Technology Competency Instrument Example Template

3. Content Validation in Personnel Assessment Template

4. Face and Content Validity of a Teaching and Learning Guiding Principles Instrument Evaluation Template

5. Questionnaire Content Validity Example

6. Examination Content Validity Example Template

7. Investigating Content and Face Validity of A Placement Test

8. Psychological Assessment Content Validity Template

9. Questionnaire Content Validity and Test Retest Reliability Template

10. Content Validation in Assessment Decision Guide

11. Qualitative Research Validity Template

How to Establish Content Validity Evidence

Aside from the examples, we also included the following instructions, which you can use to establish content validity in your project research successfully.

1. Define the Purpose of a Test

Through this step, you have to determine the reasons why a test is necessary. You also have to list down who will take the test and how the test will go. After that, you will have to determine what interpretations you are going to use based on the results of the test you are going to take.

For example, you intend to measure the satisfaction rate of the customer service your business provides to the customers. It will serve as the purpose of the test that you are going to conduct. After that, you can decide whether you will provide online forms to your customers with specific questions. You can also invite them for a quick interview, but this process can be inconvenient for some customers. Thus, you also have to consider a few factors when deciding the most appropriate method to approach your participants.

2. Develop the Test

Once you have clearly stated the purpose of the test, you can start the development of the test as outlined. During the development process, you have to follow the purposes of the analysis to ensure that the test will generate the data that you need for evaluation.

3. Execution

In this step, you will execute the test that you have developed. To accurately measure the effectiveness of the test, you have to make sure that you will only follow the plan that you have developed. For example, you have included in the development of your test that you will get the necessary information by providing your customers with surveys with specific questions.

4. Evaluation

If the construction is done right, you can assure that the test is measuring the correct subject area. Through this step, you can conclude if the test generated the intended data. You can also determine if the analysis serves the purposes that you listed during the first step of the content validity evidence establishment.

Conclusion

As mentioned earlier, there are several factors that you have to consider when determining the quality of a test. One of them is content validity. In general, the purpose of validity is to ensure that the analysis that you are conducting is precisely measuring the intended areas and are yielding consistent results. Through a content validity, you can measure or describe the content of the property or attribute that you wish to cover. Other types of validity that you can consider when developing a test are construct validity, content validity, face validity, and criterion validity.