Commentary_on_Hussey&Hughes(2020)

Hussey and Hughes (2020) analyzed four aspects (internal consistency, test-retest reliability, factor structure, and measurement invariance) relevant to the structural validity of psychological scales in 15 self-report questionnaires and concluded that social and personality psychology has a “hidden invalidity” problem. We argue that their argument that the field ignores structural validity (hence “hidden”) is incorrect because many published papers specifically investigate the measurement properties of instruments applied in social and personality psychology. Furthermore, we show that the models they used to test structural validity do not match the construct space for many of the measures. Lastly, we argue that their conclusion that measures are invalid based on a pass/fail decision for measurement invariance is overly simplistic. Rather, partial measurement invariance and the effect size of the noninvariance should be considered. Moving forward, we think it would be important for all researchers to more actively engage with prior measurement research, know the limits of existing measures, and invest in a deeper examination of the psychometric properties of their own measures in each of their studies.