Which validity reflects whether a test appears to measure the intended construct?

• A. Content validity
• B. Face validity
• C. Criterion validity
• D. Discriminant validity

Answer: (B)

Face validity is about whether a test appears to measure the intended construct. It’s the initial, superficial impression of usefulness: do the items look like they’re assessing the right domain, so respondents and practitioners feel the test is relevant? This matters for engagement and acceptability, because people are more likely to take the measure seriously if it seems on the surface to tap into what it’s supposed to measure. However, appearance alone doesn’t establish true measurement quality; a test can look perfectly relevant yet fail to capture the construct accurately, and a solid instrument might not appear obviously related at first glance. Other validity types focus on actual measurement properties—whether the items cover the full domain (content validity), how well the test predicts or correlates with external criteria (criterion validity), or whether it relates as expected to other constructs (discriminant validity). So the option that describes the test’s appearance of measuring the intended construct is the one that reflects face validity.