We define data transformations that leave certain classes of distributions invariant, while acting in a specific manner upon the parameters of the said distributions. It is shown that under such transformations the maximum likelihood estimators behave in exactly the same way as the parameters being estimated. As a consequence goodness--of--fit tests based on standardized data obtained through the inverse of this invariant data--transformation reduce to the case of testing a standard member of the family with fixed parameter values. While presenting our results, we also provide a selective review of the subject of equivariant estimators always in connection to invariant goodness--of--fit tests. A small Monte Carlo study is presented for the special case of testing for the Weibull distribution, along with real--data illustrations.