Reporting of Measurement Validity in Articles Published in Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement

Abstract

Quality of life (QoL) and social indicators research have become an area of major focus in the social, behavioral, and health sciences. The disciplines of QoL and social indicators research are truly trans-disciplinary and span psychology, sociology, health, education, economics, political science, and public policy. One can imagine that this broad span of disciplines would result in a variety of empirical approaches to measurement. Interestingly, two classes of measurement have evolved: psychometric and the economic utility traditions. The focus of the present chapter is lo describe the validation practices in the psychometric tradition in the journal Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement (henceforth referred to as Social Indicators Research). This journal is an important focus of study because of its history as the first journal focused on social indicators and QoL (founded in 1974) and because it has become the leading journal for the publication of research results dealing with measurement of the quality of life. The journal is interdisciplinary including papers on psychological well-being, health, education, the natural environment, social customs and morality, mental health, law enforcement, politics, economics, religion, and science and technology. The purpose of this chapter is to review the reporting of validity evidence and validation practices in papers published in Social Indicators Research. This effort serves three purposes: (1) To review validation practices in the area of quality of life (QoL), (2) To investigate the gap between the theories of validity and the practices of validation in the area of QoL, and (3) lo make recommendation for practice. It is important to keep in mind that the focus is on validation practices and not on whether the uses of or inferences from any particular instrument, measure, or assessment is valid, per se. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)