Construct validity of a test of attention for children
Date
1991
Authors
Christensen, Karin Maria
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Abstract
The available measures of sustained attention, or vigilance, tend to require more than the ability to focus attention over a prolonged time period. A new test, the Seidel Continuous Attention Test (SCAT) designed for children, has previously been found to discriminate groups of AttentionĀ deficit Hyperactivity Disordered (ADHD) children from normals. This research evaluated the SCAT's construct validity through an examination of its convergent, discriminant, and relative validity. It was hypothesized that the SCAT should be related to certain other neuropsychological tests (those thought to measure attention), while remaining free of confounding factors such as general intelligence. The hypotheses were tested by considering the patterns of correlations obtained between these measures.
The SCAT appears to have acceptable reliability 1 which is necessary for the test to be valid. It was generally unrelated to potential confounding factors which should not be measured by a test of attention; thus, its discriminant validity was supported. There were very few correlations between the SCAT and other tests thought to measure attention (a test of convergent validity); however, this result is not inconsistent with the SCAT's being a good measure, because it may be more "pure" than many other tests of attention.