A critique of validity analysis from instruments assessing the affective domain

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy Education
• Professional Values Assessment
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Pharmacy schools require evidence of internalized professional values among students.
• Quantitative instruments are commonly used to assess these values.
• A literature review was conducted to evaluate the validity of such instruments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify instruments used to assess the affective domain of pharmacy students.
• To evaluate the evidence of validity for scores derived from these instruments.

Main Methods:

• A systematic search of electronic databases was performed to find relevant instruments.
• Information on instruments, assessed validity facets, and validity evidence was reviewed.

Main Results:

• Twenty-five studies reported validity evidence for instruments assessing the affective domain.
• Most instruments had validity evidence from multiple sources, primarily test content and internal structure.
• Evidence for other validity facets was frequently absent.

Conclusions:

• Further research is necessary to establish the validity of scores from instruments assessing pharmacy students' affective domain.
• Specific areas needing more investigation include relations to other variables, response processes, and consequences of use.