Validity and Teacher Inference

Abstract

The authors examine inferences made by a beginning teacher and illustrate that traditional notions of validity as presented by Cronbach and Cook and Campbell are inadequate for judging their validity. These traditional notions of validity depend on a regularity theory of causation, although Cronbach's and Cook and Campbell's particular conceptions are quite different. The relationships between causation and validity are discussed. A different theory of causation, an intentional theory of causation, is explicated. Such a view runs counter to the principles of the regularity theory but makes intuitive sense and seems particularly sensible in understanding teachers' causal inferences. The authors advocate an expanded, pluralistic conception of validity that allows that inferences made in a variety of ways can be valid.