5 Identifying Good Measurements Flashcards
Categorical variable
A variable whose levels are categories.
Concurrent validity
An empirically supported type of measurement validity that represents the extent to which a measure is related to a concrete, simultaneous outcome that it should be related to.
Content validity
The extent to which a measure captures all parts of a defined construct.
Convergent validity
And empirically supported type of measurement for validity that represents the extent to which a measure is associated with other measures of a theoretical similar construct.
Correlation coefficient
A single number, ranging from -1.0 to 1.0, used to indicate the strength and direction of an association.
Cronbach’s alpha
Coefficient alpha. A correlation-based statistic that measures the scale’s internal reliability.
Discriminant validity
Divergent validity. An empirically supported type of measurement validity that represents the extent to which a measure does not associate strongly with measures of other, theoretically different constructs.
Face validity
The extent to which a measure is subjectively considered a possible operationalization of the conceptual variable in question.
Internal reliability
In a measuring instrument that contains several items, the consistency in a pattern of answers, no matter how a question is phrased.
Interrater reliability
The degree to which two or more coders or observers agree in their ratings of a set of targets.
Interval scale
The quantitative measurement that has no “true zero” and it which the numerals represent equal intervals (distances) between levels (e.g. temperature in degrees).
Observational measure
Behavioral measure. A variable measured by recording observable behaviors or physical traces of behaviors.
Ordinal scale
A quantitative measurement scale whose levels represent arrange order, in which it is unclear whether the distances between levels are equivalents (e.g. a five-star rating scale).
Physiological measure
A variable measured by recording biological data.
Predictive validity
An empirically supported type of measurement validity that represents the extent to which a measure is related to a concrete, future outcome that it should be related to.
Quantitative variable
A variable whose values can be recorded as meaningful numbers.
Ratio scale
A quantitative scale of measurement in which the numerals have equal intervals and the value of zero truly means “nothing” (e.g. weight).
Reliability
The consistency of a measure.
Self-report measure
A method of measuring the variable in which people answer questions about themselves in a questionnaire or interview.
Slope direction
The upward, downward, or neutral slope of the cloud of points in a scatterplot.
Strength
A description of an association indicating how closely the data points in the scatterplot cluster along the line of best fit drawn through them.
Test-retest reliability
The consistency in results every time a measure is used.
