Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Garbage-In, Garbage-Out: Item Generation As A Threat To Construct Validity, Terri A. Scandura Phd, Lucy R. Ford

Terri A. Scandura

Item generation has received only cursory attention in the research literature, despite the fact that it seems obvious that poorly written items will result in poor psychometric properties of measures. In this paper, we review the literature on item generation, develop a typology of threats to construct validity, and evaluate five commonly usedorganizational research measures with respect to typology. Our results demonstrate that the sampled measures have significant problems that may represent threats to construct validity. recommendations for improved item generation practice are offered.