CR_Ch.5--Measurement Concepts

Question 1

concurrent validity

Answer 1

The construct validity of a measure is assessed by examining whether groups of people differ on the measure in expected ways.

Question 2

construct validity

Answer 2

The degree to which a measurement device accurately measures the theoretical construct it is designed to measure.

Question 3

content validity

Answer 3

An indicator of construct validity of a measure in which the content of the measure is compared to the universe of content that defines the construct.

Question 4

convergent validity

Answer 4

The construct validity of a measure is assessed by examining the extent to which scores on the measure are related to scores on other measures of the same construct or similar constructs

Question 5

Cronbach’s alpha

Answer 5

An indicator of internal consistency relability assessed by examining the average correlation of each item (question) in a measure with every other question.

Question 6

discriminant validity

Answer 6

The construct validity of a measure is assessed by examining the extent to which scores on the measure are not related to scores on conceptually unrelated measures.

Question 7

face validity

Answer 7

The degree to which a measurement device appears to accurately measure a variable.

Question 8

internal consistency reliability

Answer 8

Reliability assessed with data collected at one point in time with multiple measures of a psychological construct. A measure is reliable when the multiple measures provide similar results.

Question 9

interrater reliability

Answer 9

An indicator of relability that examines the agreement of observations made by two or more raters (judges).

Question 10

interval scale

Answer 10

A scale of measurement in which the intervals between numbers on the scale are all equal in size.

Question 11

measurement error

Answer 11

The degree to which a measurement deviates from the true score value.

Question 12

nominal scale

Answer 12

A scale of measurement with two or more categories that have no numerical (less than, greater than) properties.

Question 13

ordinal scale

Answer 13

A scale of measurement in which the measurement categories form a rank order along a continuum.

Question 14

Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient

Answer 14

A type of correlational coefficient that is used with interval and ratio scale data. In addition to providing information on the strength of relationship between two variables, the Pearson PMCR indicates the direction (positive or neagtive) of the relationship.

Question 15

predictive validity

Answer 15

The construct validity of a measure is assessed by examining the ability of the measure to predict a future variable.

Question 16

ratio scale

Answer 16

A scale of measurement in which there is an absolute zero point, indicating an absence of the variable being measured. An implication is that ratios of numbers on the scale can be formed (generally, these are physical measures such as weight, or timed measures such as duration or reaction time.

Question 17

reactivity

Answer 17

A problem of measurement in which the measure changes the behaviour being observed.

Question 18

reliability

Answer 18

The degree to which a measure is consistent.

Question 19

test-retest reliability

Answer 19

A reliability coefficient determined by the correlation between scores on a measure given at one time with scores on the same emasure given at a later time.

Question 20

true score

Answer 20

An individual’s actual score on a variable being measured, as opposed to the score the individual obtained on the measure itself.