Review of Studies on the Psychometric Properties of Mayer–Salovey–Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test

Abstract

The study reviewed notable reports on the psychometric properties of the Mayer- Salover-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test [MSCEIT], with a focus on articles published in open-access SCOPUS indexed journals. Out of the initial 43 promising articles the search engine listed, only 8 met the inclusion criteria of offering useful information on reliability and validity of the ability-prone emotional intelligence test. The documentary research design was adopted. Qualitative analyses of the selected reports revealed that though the MSCEIT tend to furnish some evidence of internal consistency reliability cum construct and criterion validity over the years, it was still deficient in content validity, based on some missing indispensable dimensions of emotional intelligence. The content validity gap tends to put to question the authenticity of all the reported indices of validity of the MSCEIT, especially if we follow the psychometric principle that no psychological instrument can have acceptable construct and criterion validities without a robust content validity, irrespective of the robustness of the statistical treatment applied on the data thereof.