Validating Psychological Constructs

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).

“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)​

• 1 Introduction.- Part I: The Historical Dimension of Construct Validity.- 2 Historical Precursors and Early Testing Theory.- 3 The Birth of Construct Validity Theory4 Construct Validity: Developments and Debates.- 5 Recent Accounts of (Construct) Validity.- Part II: The Philosophical Dimension of Construct Validity.- 6 The Philosophical Backdrop of Construct Validity.- 7 Philosophical Sketches of Construct Validity Theory.- 8 Some Conceptual Housecleaning.- Part III: The Pragmatic Dimension of Construct Validity.- 9 Construct Validation: View from the “Trenches”.- 10 Revisiting Possibilities for Construct Validity Theory.