Expanding the Concept of Validity in Survey Research

• In Event: 31.091 - Fairmont Royal York Roundtable Session Five
  In Roundtable Session: 31.091-7 - Revisiting Validity in Survey Research

Abstract

This conceptual paper critiques the prevailing approach to survey validation and offers a model for planning and organizing evidence into a validity argument that accounts for the chain of inferences that frequently occur in survey research projects. The proposed model integrates modern psychometric validity theory and experimental-research validity into the survey life cycle model. This expanded validity approach provides a means for survey researchers to garner existing evidence collected under the total survey error framework to present credible validity arguments. By taking an expanded validity-argument perspective, researchers can become less attached to specific methods and more attentive to evidence that counters plausible rebuttals that might otherwise nullify a project’s overall claims.

Author

• George M. Harrison, University of Hawaii at Manoa