Validating Psychological Constructs

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

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2. Introduction

   • Kathleen Slaney

   Pages 1-25

3. The Historical Dimension of Construct Validity

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 27-27

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   2. Historical Precursors and Early Testing Theory

      • Kathleen Slaney

      Pages 29-57

   3. The Birth of Construct Validity Theory

      • Kathleen Slaney

      Pages 59-81

   4. Construct Validity: Developments and Debates

      • Kathleen Slaney

      Pages 83-109

   5. Recent Accounts of (Construct) Validity

      • Kathleen Slaney

      Pages 111-140

4. The Philosophical Dimension of Construct Validity

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 141-141

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   2. The Philosophical Backdrop of Construct Validity

      • Kathleen Slaney

      Pages 143-172

   3. Philosophical Sketches of Construct Validity Theory

      • Kathleen Slaney

      Pages 173-200

   4. Some Conceptual Housecleaning

      • Kathleen Slaney

      Pages 201-234

5. The Pragmatic Dimension of Construct Validity

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 235-235

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   2. Construct Validation: View from the “Trenches”

      • Kathleen Slaney

      Pages 237-269

   3. Revisiting Possibilities for Construct Validity Theory

      • Kathleen Slaney

      Pages 271-299

6. Back Matter

   Pages 301-308

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This book critically examines the historical and philosophical foundations of construct validity theory (CVT), and how these have and continue to inform and constrain the conceptualization of validity and its application in research. CVT has had an immense impact on how researchers in the behavioural sciences conceptualize and approach their subject matter. Yet, there is equivocation regarding the foundations of the CVT framework as well as ambiguities concerning the nature of the “constructs” that are its raison d’etre. The book is organized in terms of three major parts that speak, respectively, to the historical, philosophical, and pragmatic dimensions of CVT. The primary objective is to provide researchers and students with a critical lens through which a deeper understanding may be gained of both the utility and limitations of CVT and the validation practices to which it has given rise. 

• Construct Validity Theory
• Classical Test Theory
• Modern Test Theory
• Loevinger
• Spearman
• Philosophy of Science
• Logical Positivism
• Operationism
• Logical Empiricism

“Slaney’s Validation Psychological Constructs is an impressive and long-overdue monograph on a central and implicit aspect of psychology’s methodological metaphysics. … This book is well worth the price and portions of it could easily be used for upper-year undergraduate and graduate classes, as well as lab readings for stimulating some overdue reflections.” (Ian James Davidson, Psychometrika, Vol. 83, 2018)

“The author does a great job of developing the historical, philosophical, and practical aspects of Construct Validity Theory. This book will give the reader a more substantial basis for understanding the importance of psychological testing and how to better use these important tools. The text is written at a level that would be accessible to professionals, graduate students, and even advanced undergraduates. I would certainly use this book as supplemental reading to my course in psychological assessment.” (Karl N. Kelley, PsycCRITIQUES, Vol. 62 (51), December, 2017)​

“In this work, Kathleen Slaney uses careful historical scholarship and penetrating conceptual analysis to bring desperately needed clarity to the treatment of an often-invoked but poorly understood topic in psychological research, the notion of construct validity. The work is essential reading for anyone aspiring to command of this topic.” (James T. Lamiell, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Georgetown University, USA)

• Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada

  Kathleen Slaney

Kathleen Slaney is Associate Professor of Psychology at Simon Fraser University, Canada. She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, and a co-editor of A Wittgensteinian Perspective on the Use of Conceptual Analysis in Psychology (2013) and The Wiley Handbook of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology (2015).

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