Explain How Criterion Contamination Could Affect Validity Coefficients Through Either

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Examlex · Accepted Answer

The Answer is Criterion contamination occurs when the measure of the criterion includes elements that are not part of the true construct being measured. This can affect the validity coefficients in two ways: spurious inflation or deflation of the "true" validity coefficients.

Spurious inflation occurs when the criterion contamination introduces extraneous factors that artificially inflate the apparent relationship between the predictor and the criterion. This can lead to an overestimation of the validity of the predictor, as the observed relationship is not truly reflective of the underlying construct being measured.

On the other hand, criterion contamination can also lead to the deflation of the "true" validity coefficients. This occurs when the contaminated criterion introduces noise or error variance that reduces the observed relationship between the predictor and the criterion. As a result, the true validity of the predictor may be underestimated, as the observed relationship is attenuated by the presence of irrelevant factors in the criterion measure.

In both cases, criterion contamination can distort the true validity coefficients, leading to inaccurate assessments of the predictive power of the predictor variable. It is therefore important to carefully consider and control for potential sources of criterion contamination in order to ensure the validity of the coefficients obtained from predictive models.

Explain How Criterion Contamination Could Affect Validity Coefficients Through Either

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