Criterion Validity
Definition
The degree to which test scores predict or correlate with an external criterion; predictive criterion validity is most relevant to forensic instruments.
- Definition
- Degree scores predict or correlate with external criterion
- Most relevant type
- Predictive criterion validity
- Field
- Forensic assessment instruments
Common questions
Why is predictive criterion validity emphasised over concurrent validity for forensic instruments?+
Forensic tools such as risk assessments are typically used to inform decisions about future behaviour, like reoffending, so evidence that scores predict a later outcome carries more weight than evidence that scores merely correlate with a present-time measure.
What external criterion is commonly used to establish criterion validity for a forensic risk tool?+
Documented reoffending or violent recidivism over a follow-up period is a common external criterion, since it directly reflects the outcome the tool is meant to forecast.
Related terms
- AUC Statistic
- Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve; the standard criterion-validity metric for forensic risk and malingering instruments, with 0.70 considered a minimum...
- Base Rate
- The prior probability of an event or proposition before specific evidence is considered. In forensic inference, the base rate is the probability...
- BSA 2023 § 39
- Section 39 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023, the provision governing expert opinion evidence in Indian courts. Replaced Indian Evidence Act 1872...
- Consequential Validity
- The fairness and equity implications of test use; includes disparate impact on racial or cultural groups and the systematic bias this may...
- Daubert Standard
- The US federal evidentiary standard (Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 1993) requiring that expert testimony be based on scientifically valid methods with...
- Ecological Validity
- The degree to which a measurement or test procedure produces results that generalise from the controlled laboratory context to the real-world condition...
- Incremental Validity
- The improvement in predictive accuracy that a test adds over and above prior information; justifies the cost and burden of additional assessment.
- Positive Predictive Value (PPV)
- The probability that a person who tests positive on a risk instrument will actually reoffend. PPV depends on both the instrument's sensitivity...
- Reliability
- The extent to which a measurement procedure produces the same result when repeated under the same conditions or by a different researcher.
- Structured Professional Judgment (SPJ)
- Assessment approach that anchors clinical judgment to empirically validated risk-factor items while preserving room for case-specific integration.
- Validity
- The degree to which evidence and theory support the interpretation of test scores for a specific purpose; modern standards treat it as...