National Certification Exam for Clinical Laboratory Scientists: A Construct Validity Study

The validity of a national certification examination for clinical laboratory scientists was examined usingfive of Cronbach 's eight suggested procedures for construct validity. The 199-item examination was completed by (111) clinical laboratory practitioners from 40 laboratories throughout the United States. Their scores were compared to their competence level (most, average, minimal) as determined by their laboratory managers. A correlation coefficient of .406 indicated a fairly strong relationship between competence level and examination score. Four otherfactorsshowed correlation with practitioners' performance: education level, age, size of laboratory staff, and workload.