CH 1, 2, 3 Flashcards
What is a test?
- A test is a measurement device or technique used to quantify behavior, and predict behavior. (Example: spelling test –> measures how well someone spells)
- A test has items, as item is a stimulus that a person responds to, the response is scored (Example: graded on a scale)
What is a psychological test?
a set of items designed to measure characteristics of human beings that pertain to behavior
Overt Behavior
behavior that is observable
Covert Behavior
takes place within an individual, can’t be observed (feelings, thoughts)
Individual Test
test given to one person at a time
Group Test
test given to more than one person at a time by a test examiner
Achievement Test
measures previously learned material (Example: how many answers you get right on a math test)
Aptitude Test
potential for learning specific skills, it predicts results
Intelligence Test
person’s general potential to solve problems, think critically
Human Ability
overlap of the main three tests, achievement, aptitude, intelligence
Personality Test
measures and individual typical behavior, several types of personality tests (Examples: projective, structured)
Projective Personality Test
stimulus (test material) or the required response are ambiguous (Examples: Rorschach test –> stimulus is an inkblot –> alternative responses)
Structured Personality Test
in the form of “self-report” , has specific items
Psychological Testing
multiple uses, application, underlying concepts of psychological and educational tests. main use to evaluate individual differences (Example: IQ test assumed high IQ score higher intelligence, those with low IQ score have lower intelligence)
Principles
the basic concepts and fundamental ideas that underlie all psychological and educational tests
Reliability
accuracy, dependability, and consistency of test results. refer to the degree a test is error-free.
Validity
the usefulness of test results. interpretation of the test if it is appropriate.
What is an application of psychological testing?
interview: gathering information through verbal interactions using direct questions.
Chinese Testing
China had sophisticated service testing programs, oral examinations were given to help determine work evaluations.
What were the Chinese special testing booths?
Special testing booths –> national testing program –> those who did well received more opportunities than those who scored lower
Who was Charles Darwin? What was his theory? What did he believe?
- the person that contributed to understanding individual differences
- Darwins theory: higher forms of life evolved because of differences among individual forms of life in a species, individual members of a species differ.
- Survival of the fittest
Who was Francis Galton? What did he believe?
- he applied Darwin’s theories to the study of human beings.
- used concepts of “survival of the fittest” to show that some people had characteristics that made them fitter to live than others
Binet-Intelligence Test
- the tests are instructive, and the first version was the Binet-Simon Scale
- contained 30 items that increased in difficulty and were designed to identify intellectual subnormal individuals.
- original sample consisted of 50 children, given the test under standard conditions
- Binet scale also determined mental age
Mental Age
your age mentally, measurement of a child’s performance on a test in comparison to other children their biological age. (Example: a child takes a test –> performance of a typical 8-year-old child –> child mental age is 8)
What is the USA version Binet- Simon Scale?
Standard Binet Intelligence Scale
Who was David Wechsler? What did he do?
- published the first version of the Wechsler intelligence scales
- The Weschler-Bellevue Intelligence: contained several innovations in intelligence testing
- His test included nonverbal scale that overcame weakness of the Binet test.
Representative Sample
one that compromises individuals like those for whom the test is to be used, test is used for the general population, and must reflect all segments of the population.
What was the importance of WWI to testing?
- WWI created a demand for large-scale group testing because few trained personnel could evaluate the influx of military recruits.
- Huge growth of psychological testing and growth of applied psychology.
Who was Robert Yerkes? What did he do during WWI?
- President of the American Psychological Association
- Yerkes headed to psychologists who developed two structured group tests of human abilities: Amry Alpha and Army Beta
- Army Alpha: required reading ability, Army Beta: measured intelligence of illiterate adults
What did WWI help develop?
helped developed groups test, and broadened the scope of testing to achievement, aptitude, interest, and personality tests.
Personality Tests
measured stable characteristics or traits that underlie behavior
Traits
tendencies to act, think, or feel in a certain manner in any given circumstance that distinguishes one individual from another.
Thematic Apperception of Test
used to measure human needs and certain individual differences in motivation.
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
use methods to determine the meaning of a test response helped revolutionize structured personality tests. research argued that the test could only be determined by empirical research. MMPI led to factor analysis.
Factor Analysis
method of finding the minimum number of dimensions (characteristics, attributes) which are called factors
Why do we need statistics?
used for the purpose, numbers to provide summaries and allow us to evaluate observations directly
Descriptive Statistics
methods used to provide a concise description of a collection of quantitative information
Inferential Statistics
methods used to make inferences from observations of a small group of people known as a sample to a larger population
Properties of Scales
Magnitude, equal intervals, absolute 0
Magnitude
property of “moreness”. a scale has the property of it we can say that a particular instance of the attribute represents more, less, equal amounts of the given quanity
Equal Interval
the scale has the property of equal intervals if the difference between two points at any place on the scale has the same meaning as the difference between two other points that differ by the same number of scale units. (Example: the difference between inches 2 and 4 is the same difference between inches 10 and 12; 2 inches)
Absolute 0
obtained when nothing of the property is being measured exists.
Nominal Scale
name objects, used when data is qualitative. (Example: numbers on football jerseys).
Ordinal Scale
a scale with the property of magnitude but not equal intervals or an absolute 0, allows you to rank individuals (Example: ranking people by height)
Interval Scale
when a scale has properties of magnitude and equal intervals, but not absolute 0 (Example: degrees in Fahrenheit)
Ratio Scale
has all three properties (magnitude, equal intervals, absolute 0)
Frequency Distribution
displays scores on a variable or a measure to reflect how frequently each value was obtained
Mean
the average score in a distribution
Standard Deviation
approximation of the average deviation around the mean. (Example: +5 is 5 deviations above the mean, -2 is 2 deviations below the mean)
Percentile Ranks
what percent of the score falls below a particular score. (Example: I scored the 80th percentile, meaning the top 20%)
Z Score
difference between a score and the mean, divided by standard deviation, z score is a deviation of a score from the mean. (Example: the larger the deviation the score the further from the mean/ the lower the deviation score the closer to the mean)
Positive and Negative Skew
Positive Skew: tail of distribution is longer on the right
Negative Skew: tail of distribution is longer on the left
What are norms?
norms are the average performance and allows for comparisons
What is within-group norming?
not being compared to everyone. (Example: comparing males to only males taking the test OR everyone taking the test {not entire living population}
What is norm-referenced testing?
comparison with other test takers to see the norm–> competitions
Criterion-referenced Tests
comparison to some standard score. (Example: a cut score or a passing score)
What is a scatter diagram?
a picture of the relationship between two variables
Correlation Coefficient
the index that describes the direction and magnitude of a relationship
Positive Correlation
high scores Y are associated with high scores X, low scores Y are associated with low scores X
Negative Correlation
high scores Y are associated with low scores X and lowers scores Y are associated with high scores X
Regression Line
the best fitting line straight through a set of points in a scatter diagram, found using principles of least square. best fitting line best fits the data and keeps residuals to a minimum.
Principle of Least Squares
point of best prediction and most accurate
Residual
the difference between the observed and predicted scores.
What is the Pearson Product Moment Correlation?
the coefficient is a ratio used to determine the degree of variation in one variable that can be estimated by another variable
What is interpreting a regression plot?
common use to determine the validity evidence for a test or the relationship between a test score and well-defined criterion.
What is Spearman’s rho?
method of correlation for finding the association between two sets of ranks. (Example: r = .3 –> .3 x .3 = 9%)
What is Point Biserial Correlation?
one variable is continuous and one variable is dichotomous. (Example: right or wrong answer to an item on a test)
Standard Error of Estimate
standard deviation of residuals
Coefficient of Determination
correlation coefficient squared
Coefficient Alienation
measure of a no association between two variables
Range Restriction
restriction of range, reduces correlation, narrowed down range
Factor Analysis
values observed data are expressed as functions of a number of possible causes
