Short Answer Questions

Explain the concepts of validity and reliability showing why they are
important in assessment.
Assessment is an essential component of the learning and teaching process,
and in order to find out what students know, value and are able to do as a
result of their schooling, that assessment must be valid and reliable. In the
following, I will briefly explain the concepts of validity and reliability showing
why they are important in assessment. The reliability and validity of
assessment is central to its usefulness for….
As LeFrancois (1997, p. 469) explains, ‘probably the most important
characteristic of a good test from the students’ point of view is that it be fair.
Indeed, fairness is emphasised throughout the Curriculum Framework (1998),
and in order to be fair, assessment must first be valid. Assessment is valid if it
measures what it is intended to measure (LeFrancois, 1997, p. 469), and many
types of evidence should be accrued to support the validity of those
measurements (McInerney and McInerney, 1998, p. 293).
There are four main types of validity in assessment: face validity, construct
validity, content validity and criterion-related validity. The first, face validity,
refers to whether or not the assessment appears valid on the surface. That is,
it looks like it is supposed to. A maths test should look like a maths test, and a
language test should follow a format familiar to language students and so on.
It needs to be explicit on the face of things what is expected in the assessment
in order for it to be valid (E244 Unit Materials, 2003, p. 3.3).
Construct validity is often seen as ‘the essential kind of validity’ (E244 Unit
Materials, 2003, p. 3.1), overarching all other aspects of validity. Indeed, it
may be said that face, content and criterion validity are evidence for construct
validity (E244 Unit Materials, 2003, p. 3.0). In order for assessment to have
construct validity, all components of the test must reflect the intended
construct.
A test may be reliable, but not valid.