Question

validity: the author of a test of anxiety proceeds on the premise, based on the literature, that the performance of people with high anxiety suffers when they are under stress. in an experiment, the author finds that people who scored as highly anxious on the test performed more poorly on a stressful task. the test author maintained that this finding was evidence of what kind of validity?

Answer 1

The anxiety test demonstrating that higher scores correlate with poorer performance under stress is evidence of construct validity, as it measures the concept of anxiety as intended.

Step-by-step explanation:

The finding that highly anxious individuals performed poorly on a stressful task as a function of their scores on an anxiety test is evidence of construct validity. Construct validity refers to the degree to which a test or instrument measures the concept it claims to measure.

In this case, the anxiety test is intended to measure how individuals react under stress, which is a key aspect of anxiety. The result of the experiment supports the validity of the anxiety test because the individuals who scored high on anxiety indeed exhibited poorer performance in a stressful situation, as would be expected if the test accurately measures anxiety.

Therefore, by showing that the test's scores correlate with expected outcomes in real-world conditions, the test author has gathered evidence that supports the test's construct validity. Researchers aim for instruments that are both reliable (consistent in their measurements) and valid, in order to ensure the accuracy and appropriateness of the inferences drawn from the test data.