Chapter 5 - Identifying Good Measurement Flashcards
A definition of a construct.
The conceptual variable.
What measure operationalizes a variable by recording biological data, such as brain activity, hormone levels or heart rate. Psychological measures usually require the use of equipment to amplify, record, and analyze biological data.
A psychological measure.
Catagorial variables are called ________ ___________
Nominal variables.
The levels of __________ ____________ are coded with meaningful numbers.
Quantitative variables.
An ________ ________ of measurement applies when the numerals of a quantitative variable represent a ranked order.
Ordinal scale.
An _______ ________ of measurement applies to the numerals of a quantitive variable that meets two conditions: First, the numerals represent equal intervals (distances) between levels, and second, there is no “true zero” (a person can get a score of 0, but the does not really mean “nothing).
Interval scale.
What does it mean when there is no “true zero” measurement?
A person can get a score of 0, but 0 does not really mean “nothing”.
A ______ ________ of measurement applies when the numerals of a quantitative variable have equal intervals and when the value of 0 truly means “none” or “nothing” of the variable being measured.
Ratio scale
_______ refers to how consistent the results of a measure are.
Reliability
_________ concerns whether the operationalization is measuring what it is supposed to measure.
Validity.
With ____-_____ reliability, the researcher gets consistent scores every time he or she uses the measure.
Test-retest
With ________ reliability, consistent scores are obtained no matter who measures the variables.
Interrater.
With _________ __________ (also called consistency), a study participant gives a consistent pattern of answers, no matter how the researcher has phrased the question.
Internal reliability
Researchers may use two statistical devices for data analysis: ___________ and the __________ __________
scatter plots, and the correlation coefficient.
Researchers can use a single number, called a __________ __________, or r, to indicate how close the dots, or points, on a scatter plot are to a line drawn through them.
Correlation coefficient
The slope direction can be ________, _________ or _________
Positive, negative or zero
In general the relationship is strong when the dots are _______ to the line; it is weak when the dots are ________ ___.
Close
Spread out
Researchers typically will run a correlation based statistic called __________’s ________
Chronbach’s alpha.
The closer Chronbach’s alpha is to 1.0, the better the scale’s _________
Reliability.
A measurement has ______ _________ if it is subjectively considered to be a plausible operationalization of the conceptual variable in question.
Face validity.
To ensure _______ ______, a measure must capture all parts of a defined construct.
Content validity
________ ________ evaluates whether the measure under consideration is associated with a concrete behavioral outcome that it should be associated with.
Criterion validity
______-______ __________, in which researchers see whether scores on the measure can discriminate among two or more groups whose behavior is already confirmed.
Known-groups paradigm.
The pattern of correlations with measures of theoretically similar and dissimilar constructs is called __________ validity and __________ validity (or divergent validity), respectively.
Convergent
Divergent
