From test validity to construct validity … and back?

Context:   Major changes in thinking about validity have occurred during the past century, shifting the focus in thinking from the validity of the test to the validity of test score interpretations. These changes have resulted from the 'new' thinking about validity in which construct validity has emerged as the central or unifying idea of validity today. Construct validity was introduced by Cronbach and Meehl in the mid-1950s in an attempt to address the validity of those many psychological concepts that have no clear referent in reality.

Reports of the decline of empathy during medical education are greatly exaggerated: a reexamination of the research.

Purpose: Research is said to show that empathy declines during medical school and residency training. These studies and their results were examined to determine the extent of the decline and the plausibility of any alternative explanations.

Method: Eleven studies published from 2000 to 2008 which reported empathy at various stages of physician training were reexamined.