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face validity

the apparent soundness of a test or measure. The face validity of an instrument is the extent to which the items or content of the test appear to be appropriate for measuring something, regardless of whether they actually are. A test with face validity, however, may lack empirical validity.

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Psychology term of the day

April 18th 2024

expectation

expectation

n.

1. a state of tense, emotional anticipation.

2. in probability and statistics, the long-term average of a random variable. For example, the expectation is that the mean for a specific random variable obtained with an extremely large sample will equal the mean of the population of interest. Also called expectancy. See expected value.