Final Flashcards
Difference between survey and psychological test?
- Survey = used to collect important info from individuals
-> more flexible
-> focus on groupoutcomes
-> reported at question level, percentage of respondents - Psychological test = representatively sample behaviors thought to measure an attribute or predict an outcome (measure well-defined construct)
-> standardization
-> focus on individual outcomes
-> often reported at test level as overall score
Steps to constructing a survey?
- Preparing for survey
- Pre-testing survey
- Administering survey
- Coding, entering, analysing data
What is a psychological construct?
= well-defined reference points fo theory
- tool to help us understand human behavior
- construct of multiple behaviors/characteristics
- summarized in operational definition
Different types of scoring
- Cumulative model of scoring = most common method for determining individual scores
- Categorical model = place test takers in particular group or class (f.ex. pattern of certain symptoms)
- Ipsative model of scoring = presented with statements, right or wrong
Difference between objective & subjective tests?
- Objective tests = often multiple choice (f.ex. preemployment test)
-> stem, the question part
-> distractors: incorrect responses
-> forced choice (personality tests f.ex.) - Subjective tests = essay questions (lengthy, general question)
-> judgement error, bias possible
-> intrascorer reliability needed
-> interview questions (follow-up possible) or projective responses (ambiguous to unstructured response)
Item difficulty
= percentage of test takers who respond “correctly”
-> dividing persons responding correctly by total number
-> differentiating & comparing to others
-> item difficulty of .5 yield = most variation/ half answered correctly
Item discrimination
= compares performance of those who obtained very high test scores (upper group) to those who obtained low on each item
-> appropriate differentiation
-> discrimination index ranges from -1.0 to 1.0
-> the more positive the index, the better quality of item
-> knowing answet to only 1 question will tell me a lot about how high/low construct is
Item-Total correlation
= measure of the strength and direction of relation between way test takers respond to one item and way they respond to all items as a whole
-> acceptable items: correlation of at least .2 (lower should be dropped)
Inter-Item Correlation
= displays correlation of each item with every other item
-> appropriate & consistent results?
-> how similar or different?
Item-Criterion Correlation
= correlation of item responses with a criterion measure
-> criterion = construct that should be related to measure, similar tests, and similar consequences of testing
-> if high -> confidence that item by itself represents construct
Item-Response Theory
= a measure of relationship between individual’s performances on one test item & test taker’s level of performance on overall measure of constructs
-> if i know answer to 1 question, how much do i know about overall construct?
Item Bias
When one item is easier for one group than for another group
Qualitative analysis
= non-statistical means of evaluating qualitative data (analysis of text usually)
-> when? when test takers give verbal/written feedback about questions
-> why? examine in more open-ended way
-> how?
a. individual level (survey)
b. group level (expert panel, giving feedback about items)
3 Interview collection methods
- Structured: rigid set of questions, interviewer cannot deviate from questions or ask follow-up (standardized)
- Unstructured: informal, free-flowing, interviewer can go any direction
- Semi-structured: more open, can ask follow-up
-> probing: follow up & seek more detail
-> prompt: follow up and give more info to help them answer
What are the standards for Educational and Psychological Testing?
- guidelines for professional practice
- american, but used internationally
- focuses on best practices for testing, less on ethics
- psychological associations tend to oversee
