Validity is defined as the quality of being logically or factually sound. In other words, does the examination measure what it purports to measure? The Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing, (AERA, 2014) describes validity as “the most fundamental consideration in developing tests and evaluating tests. The process of validation involves accumulating relevant evidence to provide a sound scientific basis for the proposed score interpretations. It is the interpretations of test scores for proposed uses that are evaluated, not the test itself.” In other words, validity is not a characteristic of an examination but instead defines the reasonableness of using the test results for use in a particular inference. Meaning, if a candidate answers a certain number of questions on a test correctly, can it be reasonably concluded that they have sufficient knowledge of the profession in order to be certified by the organization?

Did You Know?
The validation processes that PTC guides clients through are consistent with industry best practice and with the guidelines presented in the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (AERA, 2014).