Assessing Content Validity Through Correlation and Relevance Tools A Bayesian Randomized Equivalence Experiment

Content validity elicits expert opinion regarding items of a psychometric instrument. Expert opinion can be elicited in many forms: for example, how essential an item is or its relevancy to a domain. This study developed an alternative tool that elicits expert opinion regarding correlations between each item and its respective domain. With 109 Registered Nurse (RN) site coordinators from National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators , we implemented a randomized Bayesian equivalence trial with coordinators completing ‘‘relevance’’ or ‘‘correlation’’ content tools regarding the RN Job Enjoyment Scale. We confirmed our hypothesis that the two tools would result in equivalent content information. A Bayesian ordered analysis model supported the results, suggesting that evidence for traditional content validity indices can be justified using correlation arguments.