Year: 2013
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: MCDONOUGH II, STEPHEN GERARD.Construct Validity in the Measurement of Autism Symptoms Across Raters.(Under the direction of Dr. Scott A. Stage.)Measures of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) provide critical information relevant to clinical, educational, and home settings, and evaluate the presence and severity of symptoms/traits (i.e., social, communication [SC], and restrictive repetitive behaviors[ RRB]).As a matter of practice, such measures can confirm diagnosis, guide intervention selection, and evaluate symptom severity over time.Diagnosis of ASD requires integration of multiple reporters.However, to date, knowledge regarding the construct validity for ASD traits are rather limited.By using a multitrait-multirater (MTMR) matrix, this study evaluated the construct validity for RRB and SC related to the measurement of ASD.Comparisons of ratings from three reporters (i.e., caregiver, teacher, and independent observer) across two constructs (i.e., RRB and SC) were evaluated for construct validity.The measure of constructs included the Repetitive Behavior Scale Revised (RBS-R), the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Scale (ADOS).The reports were based on a population of pre-school aged children with ASD.This study tested several hypotheses (a) if convergent validity (CV) coefficients were significantly larger than the discriminant validity (DV) coefficients of different raters, (b) if CV coefficients were significantly larger than DV coefficients of same raters and, (c) that DV coefficients of same raters were larger than DV coefficients of different raters.Results indicated that the tested traits by raters failed to show construct validity as described by Campbell and Fiske (1959) and that rater bias significantly accounted for the largest degree of association.
Author: Stephen G. McDonough
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2519403197