Validity of psychological assessment: Validation of inferences from persons' responses and performances as scientific inquiry into score meaning.

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Abstract
The traditional conception of validity divides it into three separate and substitutable types-namely, content, cri- terion, and construct validities. This view is fragmented and incomplete, especially because it fails to take into account both evidence of the value implications of score meaning as a basisfor action and the social consequences of score use. The new unified concept of validity interre- lates these issues as ftlndamental aspects of a more com- prehensive theory of construct validity that addresses both score meaning and social values in test interpretation and test use. That is, umj5ed validity integrates considerations of content, criteria. and consequences into a construct frameworkfor the empirical testing of rational hypotheses about score meaning and theoretically relevant reiation- ships, including those of an applied and a scientific nature. Six distinguishable aspects of construct validity are high- lighted as a means of addressing central issues implicit in the notion of validity as a unified concept. These are content, substantive, structural, generalizability, external, and consequential aspects of construct validity. In effect, these six aspects ftrnction as general validity criteria or standards for all educational and psychological measure- ment, including performance assessments, which are dis- cussed in some detail because of their increasing emphasis in educational and employment settings.

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