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Investigating substantive validity evidence using action-project method for the goal attainment scaling measure

University of British Columbia

One aspect of validation is response processes, which examine individuals’ interactions with a measure. Current research on response processes tends to focus on tool interpretations as a function of one user. It is unclear how validation processes consider another user who may also be involved with use of a tool. My dissertation applies the Action-Project Method (APM) to investigate the way two people engage with the Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) measure. Using APM, this dissertation captures an array of response process information and delves into the goal construct that is evaluated by the GAS. Chapter One introduces the main components of this dissertation: validity, APM, and GAS. I explain why APM is suitable to study response processes, and how it will provide access to the joint processes of individuals using the GAS. Chapter Two starts by exploring how validity evidence has been gathered for the GAS. I show the ways researchers have investigated validity for a measure used between two people and highlight gaps in evidence. I discover that a clear goal construct has not been identified as most validity evidence reports on relations of the GAS to other variables. This review demonstrates that validity evidence does not consider the influence of theory or response processes, which limits the inferences that can be made about the GAS. Chapter Three aims to bridge the identified gap in validity evidence using an innovative method to explore response processes. APM is used to examine how and why a sample of therapists engage with the GAS. The complexity of interacting with the GAS is unveiled, as well as the assumption that the construct underlying the GAS is dually goal intentions and goal attainment. The final Chapter describes how the concepts and methods come together, novel contributions, limitations, and implications for researchers. Overall, this dissertation advances validity research through its application of a novel method to investigate response processes. This research also expands conceptions of validation to include investigation of joint processes and demonstrates how response process data can go beyond cognitive processes to include actions, emotions and motivation.

Text

2019-09-27

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/71788

Measurement, Evaluation and Research Methodology

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/