Predictive validity

Predictive validity is the correlation between a test that enables people to predict future academic or work success and its results. It helps define the quality and functions the test should perform. Companies widely use it to forecast the performance of their job applicants.

In this article, we’ll review the importance of predictive validity, make the difference between predictive and construct validity clear, and grab some inspiration from several examples.

Why is predictive validity important?

Companies search for the best specialists to obtain the best results and survive in a highly competitive environment. The hiring process requires costs that constantly increase with time if a firm can’t find suitable employees within a given timeframe. That’s why predictive validity is essential for businesses.

The main challenge of any selection method is to choose the best candidates and increase the utility and predictability of this process. Since the competition is too high, firms should be ready to select candidates who are prepared to demonstrate excellent performance and complete all the assigned tasks. This way, a business can obtain a competitive advantage. If a company makes a bad decision, it can lead to a reduction of its development strategies' effectiveness and invalidity.

Predictive validity enables companies to measure the utility and reliability of their selection process. With its help, a firm can test a particular selection procedure and the performance of those who were selected.

Now that you know about the importance of predictive validity, let’s make the difference between predictive validity and construct validity clear.

Predictive Validity vs. Construct Validity

It’s time to compare predictive validity and construct validity and find the differences between these two approaches.

Predictive validity is an approach especially useful in selecting the most suitable candidates for companies. It helps assess the utility and reliability of a candidate selection procedure and serves as a validity criterion type to choose the best workers. It’s a crucial aspect as it enables companies to identify and forecast an individual’s future performance in a specific environment, in this case, in a company.

Construct validity evaluates how well a particular measurement matches the construct you are eager to measure. Before identifying the concept, your team needs to prepare several questions with the help of which they will be able to understand whether it’s appropriate to select specific approaches.

To obtain carefully developed measures, a company needs to have relevant knowledge. For example, a company’s team can make a questionnaire to identify and analyze a problem, so they should prepare several questions that will help determine whether this questionnaire enables their firm to receive relevant information.

Now when the difference and characteristics of each method are clear, let’s proceed to the examples.

Examples of Predictive Validity

Companies widely use this method to make employment tests to define whether a person is suitable for a certain position or not. For this purpose, a firm administers a specific test for incumbent employees and obtains their performance before conducting it. For instance, a company can use a supervisor’s rating of every worker’s job performance. Moreover, there can be restrictions on test and performance scores.

Let’s say that the test will show a big difference in performance results between incumbent employees and applicants. The employees of this particular company are a more homogeneous and higher performing group because of the knowledge and skills they already have after working in this firm.

To conclude, with the help of a test, people can predict the performance of an applicant and the benefits this person can bring to a business or educational institution. That’s why it’s widely used to measure academic or work success.