Which type of validity describes the extent to which a measured variable is related to other measures designed to measure the same construct?

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

Answer: (A)

Convergent validity is a form of construct validity that assesses how well a measure aligns with other instruments designed to assess the same construct. When a new measure of a trait like anxiety shows strong correlations with established anxiety scales, it suggests the tool is capturing the same underlying attribute. This shared relationship across different measures indicates good convergent validity. By contrast, discriminant validity would be demonstrated if the measure shows low correlations with measures of different constructs, face validity concerns whether the test appears to measure what it’s supposed to measure, and criterion validity relates to how well the measure predicts or correlates with a relevant external criterion.