Validating Surrogate Measures of Psychological Constructs: The Application of Construct Equivalence to Archival Data

Oct 22, 2026

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The article addresses how organizational archival data can support psychological research despite the frequent absence of validated measures for the constructs specified by theory. It presents a construct equivalence approach for deriving and empirically validating surrogate measures from existing records. The method includes a step-by-step procedure using confirmatory factor analysis and a multitrait-multimethod perspective. The approach is designed to enable secondary analysis in workplace settings while helping researchers validate measures before drawing conclusions.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages20

Reading Time50 min

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Archival Data

Advantages of Archival Data

Validating Surrogate Measures of Psychological Constructs: The Application of Construct Equivalence to Archival Data STEPHANIE C. PAYNE JOHN F. FINCH Texas A&M University TRUEMAN R. TREMBLE JR. U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences Archival data present opportunities to test important research questions. Unfortunately, archival data do not always include validated measures of the psychologi cal constructs that may be of interest to researchers. In this article, the authors describe how the construct equivalence approach can be applied to organizational archival data to derive and empirically validate surrogate measures of psycholog ical constructs. A step-by-step explanation of how to validate such measures, which includes the use of confirmatory factor analysis to examine the data from a multitrait-multimethod perspective, is described. This approach facilitates the use of organizational archives for research purposes. Keywords: surrogate measures; construct equivalence; archival data; secondary analysis The understanding of psychological phenomena in the workplace is largely enhanced by the examination of data. Although conceptual and theoretical discussions significantly contribute to our understanding of organizational behavior, we tend to regard theories as “good” to the extent that they are, among other things, well supported by empirical data. Empirical support, of course, requires research design and implementation appropriate for hypothesis testing. Collection of new data for theory testing can be difficult in applied, organizational settings. These difficulties go beyond the research design and include impediments Authors’Note: The views, opinions, and/or findings contained in this article are solely those of the authors and should not be construed as an official Department of the Army or Department of Defense position, policy, or decision, unless so designated by other documentation. Correspondence concerning this article can be sent to Stephanie C. Payne, Department of Psychology, Texas A&M University, 4235 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-4235; e-mail: [scp@psyc.tamu.edu](scp@psyc.tamu.edu). Organizational Research Methods, Vol. 6 No. 3, July 2003 363-382 DOI: 10.1177/1094428103254455 © 2003 Sage Publications 363 Downloaded from [orm.sagepub.com](orm.sagepub.com) at Karolinska Institutets Universitetsbibliotek on May 24, 2015 364 ORGANIZATIONAL RESEARCH METHODS such as management buy-in and employee cooperation. An alternative to gathering new data isto use existing data resources, such as archival data. Such data offer a number of advantages and disadvantages. This article describes one approach that circumvents a difficult problem frequently encountered when using archival data, which is the absence of validated measures of the psychological constructs specified in theory. The strategy outlined is especially appropriate when archival data offer significant research opportunities that outweigh any costs of applying the approach that may be incurred by the researcher. Archival Data Archival data are data that were collected prior to the time the research was conducted to include census data, court proceedings, patent office records, credit histories, and educational records, to name a few. Organizational archives are likely to contain data in the form of corporate annual reports, personnel files, and survey responses. Both the advantages and the disadvantages of using these data need to be considered before a researcher pursues them. In the next section, we summarize a number of these that we compiled from a variety of research methods textbooks (Dooley, 2001; Goodwin, 2002; Leary, 2001; McBurney, 2001) . Advantages of Archival Data Oneof the primary advantages of archival data is their availability and convenience. Organizations frequently collect, assemble, and archive data on their employees as well as their customers. Such data may be acquired fo

FAQs

Why is validated measurement often a problem when using archival data?

Archival datasets used in organizational research may not include validated measures for the psychological constructs specified by the researcher’s theory, limiting direct empirical testing.

What is the construct equivalence approach used for in this work?

It is used to derive surrogate measures of psychological constructs from organizational archival data and then empirically validate those measures.

How does the article validate the surrogate measures?

It describes a step-by-step validation process that uses confirmatory factor analysis from a multitrait-multimethod perspective.

Oct 22, 2026

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