When causal inferences are to be synthesized across multiple studies, efforts to establish the magnitude of a causal effect should be balanced by an effort to evaluate the generalizability of the effect. The evaluation of generalizability depends on two factors that are given little attention in current syntheses: construct validity and external…

This article raises a number of questions about the current unified theory of test validity that has construct validity at its center. The authors suggest a different way of conceptualizing the problem of establishing validity by considering whether the focus of the investigation of a test is internal to the test itself or focuses on constructs…

Lissitz and Samuelsen (2007) have proposed a framework that seemingly deems construct validity evidence irrelevant to supporting educational test meaning. The author of this article agrees with Lissitz and Samuelsen that internal evidence establishes test meaning, but she argues that construct validity need not be removed from the validity sphere.…

In response to Lissitz and Samuelsen (2007), the author reconstructs the historical arguments for the more comprehensive unitary concept of validity and the principles of scientific inquiry underlying it. Her response is organized in terms of four questions: (a) How did validity in educational measurement come to be conceptualized as unitary, and…

Lissitz and Samuelsen (2007) propose a new framework for validity theory and terminology, emphasizing a shift in theory and practice toward issues of test content rather than constructs. The author of this article argues that several of Lissitz and Samuelsen's critiques of validity theory focus on previously considered, but subsequently discarded,…

Presents a unified concept of test validity that integrates both the scientific and ethical considerations of test interpretation and use. Argues that the appropriateness, meaningfulness, and usefulness of score-based inferences are inseparable, and that this integration is based on construct validity. (FMW)