Eight ways to get a grip on validity as a social imperative

Mélanie Marceau; Meredith Young; Frances Gallagher; Christina St-Onge

doi:10.36834/cmej.77727

Authors

Mélanie Marceau Université de Sherbrooke
Meredith Young McGill University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2036-2119
Frances Gallagher Université de Sherbrooke
Christina St-Onge Université de Sherbrooke

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36834/cmej.77727

Abstract

Validity as a social imperative foregrounds the social consequences of assessment and highlights the importance of building quality into the assessment development and monitoring processes. Validity as a social imperative is informed by current assessment trends such as programmatic-, longitudinal-, and rater-based assessment, and is one of the conceptualizations of validity currently at play in the Health Professions Education (HPE) literature. This Black Ice is intended to help readers to get a grip on how to embed principles of validity as a social imperative in the development and quality monitoring of an assessment. This piece draws on a program of work investigating validity as a social imperative, key HPE literature, and data generated through stakeholder interviews. We describe eight ways to implement validation practices that align with validity as a social imperative.

Author Biographies

Mélanie Marceau, Université de Sherbrooke

Mélanie Marceau is Associate professor, School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada.

Meredith Young, McGill University

Meredith Young is Associate professor, Institute of Health Sciences Education, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, Québec, Canada.

Frances Gallagher, Université de Sherbrooke

Frances Gallagher is Full professor, School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada.

Christina St-Onge, Université de Sherbrooke

Christina St-Onge is Full professor, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada. She holds the Paul Grand’Maison de la Société des médecins Research Chair in Medical Education.

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