Toward a Theory of Construct Definition
The process of ascribing meaning to scores produced by a measurement procedure is generally recognized as the most important task in developing an educational or psychological measure, be it an achievement test, interest inventory, or personality scale. This process, which is commonly referred to as construct validation (Cronbach, 1971; Cronbach & Meehl, 1955; ETS, 1979; Messick, 1975,1980), involves a family of methods and procedures for assessing the degree to which a test measures a trait or theoretical construct.
Citation
Stenner, A. J., Smith, M., & Burdick, D. S. (1983). Toward a Theory of Construct Definition. Journal of Education Measurement, 20 (4)