Final Exam

Question 1

What is a variable?

Answer 1

A characteristic on which people differ from one another

Question 2

Does a variable need to be measured?

Answer 2

Yes

Question 3

What is an observed variable?

Answer 3

Variable that can be directly assessed (age, sex, height)

Question 4

What is a latent variable?

Answer 4

Cannot be directly measured

Question 5

What is a psychological construct?

Answer 5

Is an abstract entity that was created to reflect a set of behaviors that tend to co-occur with one another

Question 6

How is a psychological construct assessed?

Answer 6

By getting a representative sample of these behaviors, this sample should be both limitative and inclusive

Question 7

What is related to the degree to which the sample of behaviors is representative of the construct?

Answer 7

The quality of the measurement (the diagnostic value) and the ability to generalize the conclusion (predictive value)

Question 8

What is the test designed for?

Answer 8

To solicit the sample of behaviors

Question 9

What is the most typical assumption made in Psychology?

Answer 9

The presence of the latent construct predicts the emergence of the observed behaviors

Question 10

What method do we use to estimate latent variables?

Answer 10

Factor analysis

Question 11

What is confirmatory factor analysis?

Answer 11

• When the researchers determine in advance which specific items go with which specific factor
• Check if representation matches the data

Question 12

What is exploratory factor analysis?

Answer 12

• Feed all items in analysis to see which items have a higher association with which factor
• Nature of the factors comes from all the items

Question 13

What is the difference between factor loading and cross loading?

Answer 13

Factor loading is the strength of the association between item and factor whereas cross loading is a weaker loading of the association

Question 14

What is the formula for factor analysis?

Answer 14

X = Tau + Lambda *Xi + Delta

Observed score = intercept + regression slope * score on predictor + residual

Question 15

What is the goal of a factor analysis?

Answer 15

To analyze a set of continuous observed variables in order to:

• See if they form a relatively independent and meaningful subset
• Understand the underlying structure/organization of the set of variables
• Synthesize a larger set of variables

Question 16

Why are factor analyses a critical component of psychometric validation studies?

Answer 16

To see whether the various items on the questionnaire actually assess the underlying construct (factor)

Question 17

What two types of ways can a factor analysis be conducted?

Answer 17

Using ordinal (specialized application) or nominal (conducted analyses)

Question 18

Different characteristics leading to factor analysis

Answer 18

• The indicators have two causes: the factor and the random measurement error
• The residuals/uniqueness describe what is unique per indicator and is not shared among other indicators
• What is shared between the indicators is absorbed in the factor
• The latent factor is corrected for measurement error and is perfectly reliable
• Conditional independence: factor analysis “assumes” that all the covariance is absorbed by the factor (no residual correlations among the uniqueness)

Question 19

Structural equation modeling?

Answer 19

Provides a way to estimate relations among constructs corrected for random measurement errors

Question 20

Factor analysis

Answer 20

• Focuses on covariance: what is shared among the indicators
• Reflective model: the indicators are seen as providing a reflection of the latent variable
• The indicators have 2 causes = factor and the uniqueness

Question 21

Principal component analysis

Answer 21

• Looks at the complete variance-covariance, thus what the indicators share and what is unique among them
• Formative model: the indicators form the latent factor
• Provides a summary index of unrelated indicators
• Assumes that you are interested in all that is the indicators

Question 22

What is a bias?

Answer 22

The presence of a systematic difference in the estimation of scores on a given construct (=validity) for a given group. A bias is present when the margin of error differs systematically from one group to another

Question 23

Can you get a test bias if you find the mean difference?

Answer 23

No, when one group scores on the average higher than another groups it is not a bias, groups may truly differ from one another on the construct being assessed

Question 24

What are the different types of bias?

Answer 24

Content validity bias, construct validity bias, predictive validity bias, slope bias and intercept bias

Question 25

What is content validity bias?

Answer 25

• When the item or subscale is systematically more difficult for one group compared to another, holding constant the individual skill level

Question 26

How to avoid content validity bias?

Answer 26

• Create a subsample with comparable scores on test within each cultural group
• Within subsample assess item difficulty level to see if it differs across cultures

Question 27

What is construct Validity bias?

Answer 27

When the test assess different things in different groups or identical thing with different degrees of precision (factor analysis)

Question 28

What is predictive validity bias?

Answer 28

When the quality/precision of the prediction differs across groups

Question 29

What is slope bias?

Answer 29

The most severe form of bias, when the coefficient of validity is not the same across the groups

Question 30

What is intercept bias?

Answer 30

When the intercept differs across groups. i.e; equivalent score on the test systematically predicts higher level of performance in one group relative to the other, this type of bias is easy to fix when identified

Question 31

Advantages of the interview

Answer 31

• Allow more depth and flexibility (less rigid more humane)
• helps to build rapport with client in clinical context
• allows to collect a lot of information with minimum level of preparation
• substantial cost-benefit ratio when no appropriate questionnaire exists or few persons are assessed
• a psychological assessment must include an interview

Question 32

Disadvantage of the interview

Answer 32

• Hard to control for bias due to assessor
• Person being interviewed will be more susceptible to social desirability biases and influenced by assessor
• More flexibility means less standardization
• More time is required to collect a similar amount of information
• With many participants the costs associated with interviews are important

Question 33

Types of interviews (from standardized to more flexible)

Answer 33

Group test, computerized tests, individual tests, structured interviews (explicit question, structures, marking guidelines, stem and follow up questions), semi-structured interviews, unstructured interviews (panel interviews limit biases associated with interviewer)

Question 34

What 2 essential objectives do clinical interviews have?

Answer 34

1) Conduct a precise and complete assessment of the clients problem, consultation motives, expectation, life functioning and factors that help maintain the problems
2) Building rapport with client to develop strong therapeutic relationship