Validity
The extent to which a psychological assessment measures what it claims to measure.
Plain-language definitions of key terms used in psychological assessment — validity, reliability, Cronbach's alpha, subscales, and more.
The extent to which a psychological assessment measures what it claims to measure.
The consistency of an assessment's results across repeated administrations and across items.
A statistical measure of how internally consistent the items on a scale are; ≥ 0.7 is typically acceptable.
A group of items within a larger assessment that measures one specific facet of the overall construct.
An ordered response format (often 5- or 7-point) for rating agreement, frequency, or intensity.
The degree to which items on a scale correlate with one another, suggesting they measure the same construct.
The consistency of an assessment's results when the same person takes it twice, separated by time.
Evidence that an assessment actually measures the abstract concept (construct) it claims to measure.
An assessment format in which respondents rate their own thoughts, feelings, or behaviors.
A specific value on an assessment used to classify respondents into categories. Not a diagnosis.