What is the difference between content and criterion validity?
Content validity and criterion validity are two types of validity in research:
- Content validity ensures that an instrument measures all elements of the construct it intends to measure.
- A survey to investigate depression has high content validity if its questions cover all relevant aspects of the construct “depression.”
- Criterion validity ensures that an instrument corresponds with other “gold standard” measures of the same construct.
- A shortened version of an established anxiety assessment instrument has high criterion validity if the outcomes of the new version are similar to those of the original version.