An Overview of the Evolution of Validity Theory: From Trinitarian Conception to Theory of Action

The view of validity as consisting of criterion, content and construct features was once considered as a panacea. In the early conceptions, these features were looked at as a Trinitarian concept (Anastasi, 1954; Angoff, 1988; Cronbach & Meehl, 1955, as cited in Messick, 1989). However, Messick (1989) proposed the view of validity as a unitary concept , looking at test interpretation and test use as two important aspects of test validity. Despite heated discussions on the essentiality of test interpretation and test use (Messick, 1989; Spolsky, 1981) and unlike well-documented studies carried out in the field (e.g., Alderson & Hamp-Lyons, 1996; Alderson & Wall, 1993; Cheng, 1997, 1998; Cizek, 2012; Green, 2007; Lane, 2014, to name but a few), it is still a matter of debate as to whether the interpretations we make of test scores as well as the uses of those scores are meaningful and appropriate (Cizek, 2010; Kane, 2006; Lissitz, 2009; Messick, 1989; Moss, 2007; Nichols &Williams, 2009; Shepard, 1997).