In psychometrics , the construct validity of a survey instrument or psychometric test measures how well the instrument performs in practice from the standpoint of the specialists who use it.

The construct validity is judged by specialists as the most valuable indicator of the validity of a survey instrument. At the same time, assessment of the construct validity requires many months of practical use of the survey instrument in various settings.

The cause of the difficulties with assessment of the construct validity is that there may not necessarily be a measurable "true" value of the trait that is being measured. Therefore, this concept implies comparison of several approaches supposed to measure the same entity.

There are two forms of the construct validity: convergent validity and divergent validity .

See also the short courses:

Survey Analysis ,

Survey Design and Sampling Procedures .