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Psychological Testing & Assessment > CH3 > Flashcards

CH3 Flashcards

1
Q

JUST THINK:

For most people, test scores are an important fact of life. But what makes those numbers someaningful?

In general terms, what information, ideally, should be conveyed by a test score?

A

open-ended ended but I think that test scores are the fruit of someone’s effort behind the scenes that they can show other people.

For example, how else would other people know that you’ve learned a lot about a subject except through a test or an assessment.

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2
Q

this term refers to the act of assigning numbers or symbols to characteristics of things (people, events, whatever) according to rules

A

measurement

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3
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4
Q

what does noir mean?

A

noir means or is a useful acronym for the levels of measurement

nominal
ordinal
interval
ratio

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4
Q

what is the difference between discrete and continuous variables

A

discrete variables have a sample space that can be counted but a continuous variable has fractions or numbers with as many decimals as needed

example:
discrete = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
continuous = 1, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4

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5
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6
Q

this term refers to the collective influence of all of the factors on a test
score or measurement beyond those specifically measured by the test or measurement

A

error

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6
Q

JUST THINK:

The scale with which we are all perhaps most familiar is the common bathroom scale. How are a psychological test and a bathroom scale alike?

How are they different? Your answer
may change as you read on.

A

open-ended but a psychological test can measure the intelligence of a person or rather something intangible

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7
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7
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11
Q

these scales have meaningful distances between numbers

A

interval scale

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11
Q

JUST THINK:

What are some other examples of interval scales?

A

grade because you can never get a 0.00
shoe size

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12
Q

do interval scales have an absolute zero point?

A

no

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13
Q

this term refers to a set of test scores arrayed for recording or study

A

distribution

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13
Q

JUST THINK:

What are some other examples of ratio scales?

A

test scores = if 0, no correct answers
battery power = if 0, no more power left

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14
Q

this term refers to a straightforward, unmodified accounting of performance that is usually numerical

A

raw score

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15
Q

with this, all scores are listed alongside the number of times each score occurred

A

frequency distribution

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15
Q

in this kind of frequency distribution, test-score intervals replace the actual test scores

A

grouped frequency distribution

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16
Q

this refers to a diagram or chart composed of lines, points, bars, or other symbols that describe and illustrate data

A

graph

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16
Q

this is a graph with vertical lines drawn at the true limits of each test score (or class interval), forming a series of contiguous rectangles

A

histogram

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16
Q

in this type of graph, numbers indicative of frequency also appear on the Y-axis, and reference to some categorization (e.g., yes/no/maybe, male/female) appears on the X-axis

A

bar graph

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17
Q

this term refers to a statistic that indicates the average or midmost score
between the extreme scores in a distribution

A

measure of central tendency

18
Q

in this graph, data is illustrated by a
continuous line connecting the points where test scores or class intervals (as indicated on the X-axis) meet frequencies (as indicated on the Y-axis)

A

frequency polygon

19
Q

what is the most commonly used measure of central tendency

A

the mean or the average

20
Q

what is the arithmetic mean equal to?

A

the arithmetic mean is equal to the sum of the observations divided by the number of observations

21
Q

JUST THINK:

Imagine that a thousand or so engineers took an extremely difficult pre-employment test.

Ahandful of the engineers earned very high scores but the vast majority did poorly, earning extremely low scores.

Given this scenario, what are the pros and cons of using the mean as a measure of central tendency for this test

A

open-ended but not sure

22
Q

how do you know the median if the number of scores is an odd number?

A

the median will be the score that is exactly in the middle, with one-half of the remaining scores lying above it and the other half of the remaining scores lying below it

22
Q

what is the median?

A

the median is the middle score in a distribution

23
Q

how do you know the median if the number of scores is an even number?

A

the median can be calculated by determining the arithmetic mean of the two middle scores

24
Q

what is the mode?

A

the most frequently occurring score in a distribution of scores

24
Q

what is a bimodal distribution?

A

a distribution that have two scores that occur with the highest frequency

25
Q

how can the mode be useful in an analysis?

A

when assessing consumers’ recall of a commercial by means of interviews, a researcher might be interested in which word or words were mentioned most by interviewees

26
Q

this term refers to an indication of how scores in a distribution are scattered or dispersed.

A

variability

26
Q

JUST THINK:

Devise your own example to illustrate how the mode, and not the mean, can be the most useful measure of central tendency

A

open-ended

26
Q

what are some measures of variablity?

A

the range, the interquartile range, the semi-interquartile range, the average deviation, the standard deviation, and the variance

27
Q

what is the range of a distribution?

A

the range of a distribution is equal to the difference between the highest and the lowest scores

28
Q

this term refers to a measure of variability equal to the difference between Q3 and Q1

Like the median, it is an ordinal statistic

A

interquartile range

28
Q

what are the four quarters in a distribution called?

A

quartiles

29
Q

what is a standard score?

A

a standard score is a raw score that has been converted from one scale to
another scale, where the latter scale has some arbitrarily set mean and standard deviation

29
Q

this measure of variability is equal to the interquartile range divided by 2

A

semi-interquartile range

30
Q
A
30
Q
A
31
Q

what does it mean when a distribution has a negative skew?

A

A distribution has a negative skew when relatively few of the scores fall at the low end of the distribution

31
Q

what does it mean when a distribution has a positive skew?

A

A distribution has a positive skew when relatively few of the scores fall at the
high end of the distribution

32
Q

what is kurtosis?

A

the term used to refer to the steepness of a distribution in its center

32
Q

what are the three descriptions of kurtosis?

A

platykurtic - relatively flat
leptokurtic - relatively peaked
mesokurtic - somewhere in the middle

33
Q
A
34
Q

what does a tail mean?

A

The area on the normal curve between 2 and 3 standard deviations above the mean is referred to as a tail

35
Q

this indicates how many standard deviation units the raw score is below or above the mean of the distribution

A

z score

36
Q

in this transformation, a standard score is one that retains a direct numerical relationship to the original raw score

A

linear transformation

37
Q

this is a number that provides us with an index of the strength of the relationship between two things

A

coefficient of correlation

37
Q

when is a nonlinear transformation required?

A

A nonlinear transformation may be required when the data under consideration are not normally distributed yet comparisons with normal distributions need to be made.

38
Q

this term refers to an expression of the degree and direction of correspondence between two things

A

correlation

39
Q

JUST THINK:

Can you name two variables that are perfectly correlated?

How about two psychological variables that are perfectly correlated?

A

open ended

40
Q

JUST THINK:

Could a correlation of zero between two variables also be considered a “perfect” correlation?

Can you name two variables that
have a correlation that is exactly zero?

A

open ended

40
Q

what is pearson r?

A

Pearson r is the Pearson correlation coefficient and the statistical tool of choice when the relationship between the variables is linear and when the two variables being correlated are continuous

41
Q

this refers to the indication of how much variance is shared by the x and the y variables

A

coefficient of determination

41
Q

how are scatterplots useful?

A

Scatterplots are useful because they provide a quick indication of the direction and magnitude of the relationship, if any, between the two variables

42
Q

what is a scatterplot?

A

a scatterplot is a simple graphing of the coordinate points for values of the X-variable (placed along the graph’s horizontal axis) and the Y-variable (placed along the graph’s
vertical axis)

43
Q

what is a meta-analysis?

A

Meta-analysis may be defined as a family of techniques used to statistically combine information across studies to produce single estimates of the data under study

43
Q

what is an outlier?

A

an outlier is an extremely atypical point located at a relatively long distance—an outlying distance—from the rest of the coordinate points in a scatterplot

44
Q

what is effect size?

A

the estimates derived from a meta-analysis

45
Q

this term refers to professional practice that is based on clinical and research findings

A

evidence-based practice

Psychological Testing & Assessment (3 decks)

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