Question

What do Cronbach and Meehl (1955) mean by the "bootstraps effect"?  

Answer 1

The “bootstraps effect” was put forward by Cronbach and Meehl in order to indicate the seemingly paradox phenomenon wherein a test maybe constructed on the basis of a vague criterion, but through the process of of extensive construct validation, would end up having more validity than the criterion. This can occur because they asserted that researchers aim to establish construct validity when there is external no criterion they believe to be robust enough. In this case, researchers work towards coming up with their own operational definitions which, in turn, can end up being superior to the existing criterion.