Test validity defined as d-connection between target and measured attribute:Expanding the causal definition of Borsboom et al. (2004)

This article suggests a modification to the conception of test validity put forward by Borsboom, Mellenberghand van Heerden (2004). According to the original definition, a test is only valid if test outcomes are causedby variation in the target attribute. According to the d-connection definition of test validity, a test is validfor measuring an attribute if (a) the attribute exists, and (b) variation in the attribute is d-connected tovariation in the measurement outcomes. In other words, a test is valid whenever test outcomes inform useither about whathashappened to the target attribute in the past, or about whatwillhappen to the targetattribute in the future. Thus, the d-connection definition expands the number of scenarios in which a test canbe considered valid. Defining test validity as d-connection between target and measured attribute situatesthe validity concept squarely within the structural causal modeling framework of Pearl (2009)

Test validity defined as d-connection between target and measured attribute:Expanding the causal definition of Borsboom et al. (2004)

This article suggests a modification to the conception of test validity put forward by Borsboom, Mellenberghand van Heerden (2004). According to the original definition, a test is only valid if test outcomes are causedby variation in the target attribute. According to the d-connection definition of test validity, a test is validfor measuring an attribute if (a) the attribute exists, and (b) variation in the attribute is d-connected tovariation in the measurement outcomes. In other words, a test is valid whenever test outcomes inform useither about whathashappened to the target attribute in the past, or about whatwillhappen to the targetattribute in the future. Thus, the d-connection definition expands the number of scenarios in which a test canbe considered valid. Defining test validity as d-connection between target and measured attribute situatesthe validity concept squarely within the structural causal modeling framework of Pearl (2009)

Portrayal by Inappropriate Interaction: Persona meets persona in journalistic profiling

A close reading of three different profiles of Danish-Palestinian poet Yahya Hassan (1995-2020) showcases how interactions between journalists and subjects may become a mutual performative challenge and how, on such occasions, the personas of both parties may serve as a multi-layered journalistic resource in both an ethical and aesthetic sense. Applying the concept of “rhetorical maneuvers” (Phillips 2006) to describe reporters’ uses of an understated ‘first-person minor’ versus a demonstratively responsive ‘first-person major’ perspective (Phillips 2019), we highlight a principle that may reorient interview situations that are tense or out of control. The principle entails continuous shifts of subject form that are potentially inappropriate but enable both contextual transparency and a distinct textual structure or narrative style. By considering the mutual constitution and reconstitution of personas as rhetorical maneuvering we hope first to expand the analytical perspective of persona studies at the level of form while also, secondly, motivating journalists to explore the relational and interactive aspects of persona performances as a resource for occasional, productive disruption of their professional practice