Stepping Outside the Normed Sample: Implications for Validity

We present considerations for validity when a population outside of a normed sample is assessed and those data are interpreted. Using a career group counseling example exploring life satisfaction changes as evidenced by the Quality of Life Inventory (Frisch, 1994 Frisch, M. B. (1994). Quality of life inventory: Manual and treatment guide. Minneapolis, MN: Pearson. [Google Scholar]), we showcase qualitative and quantitative approaches to explore how normative data could be a useful comparison to a dissimilar sample.