Research Matters Special Issue 3 (republished with Afterword 2020)

Contents

Contents

  • Foreword - Document

    Stobart, G. (2020). Foreword. Research Matters: A Cambridge Assessment publication, Special Issue 3 (First published 2012), 1.

    This Special Issue of Research Matters is an important landmark since it provides the most detailed validation study of a public examination in England that we have seen. It offers both the theoretical basis for the study and then a detailed investigation of what this means in practice when applied to a complex examination.

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  • Editorial - Document

    Oates, T. (2020). Editorial. Research Matters: A Cambridge Assessment publication, Special Issue 3 (First published 2012), 2.

    This Special Issue of Research Matters consists of something more akin to a monograph – offering an overview of an in-depth empirical validation study. Far from being mere pragmatic empiricism, this study is driven by a complex mix of theoretical underpinning, practical validation, and ethical concern.

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  • An approach to validation: Developing and applying an approach for the validation of general qualifications

    Shaw, S., & Crisp, V. (2020). An approach to validation: Developing and applying an approach for the validation of general qualifications. Research Matters: A Cambridge Assessment publication, Special Issue 3 (First published 2012), 3-44.

    This Special Issue begins with a discussion of the concepts of validity and validation and the perspective taken in the current work. The development of the validation framework and later revision will then be described. This is followed by some information on the assessment context in which the validation studies were conducted and an overview of the methods used to gather validation evidence, including some description of some methods that were piloted with A level Geography but were not used in the later study with A level Physics. The methods, analyses and findings from each method are then described for International A level Physics. The validity argument is then evaluated and a final section provides a conclusion and brief comments on challenges in validation activities.

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  • Afterword - Document

    Shaw, S., & Crisp, V. (2020). Afterword. Research Matters: A Cambridge Assessment publication, Special Issue 3 (First published 2012), 44-45.

    It has been eight years since the publication of this special issue exemplifying ‘An approach to validation’ (and closer to ten years since the work it describes was conducted).Validation studies continue to be demanding activities, not helped by considerable variety in views about what validation should involve, what it can achieve and whom it should serve (Newton & Shaw, 2016). One thing is clear, however. There is an increasing demand for awarding bodies to demonstrate the quality of their qualifications and meeting this demand is no mean feat. Our main motivation for publishing this work was to provide a practical example for would-be validators by describing the framework (based on Kane, 2006) and methods that we applied in a validation study of International A level Physics.

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