Intensive Repeated Measures in Naturalistic Settings (IRM-NS) Flashcards
IRM-NS acronym
Intensive Repeated Measures in Naturalistic Settings
One Occasion Self-Report Questionnaires: Strengths (3)
- Standardization of stimuli
- Ease of use
- Capacity for high content validity due to sampling domain
One Occasion Self-Report Questionnaires: Weaknesses (2)
- Reconstructive memory processes
- Impression management/social desirability
Behavioral Observation: Strengths (2)
- No memory problems
- Impression management less of an issue
Behavioral Observation: Weaknesses/issues (3)
(1) Resource intensive
(2) Naturalistic setting
-> Often need long observation periods to obtain valid scores
-> Limited access to populations
(3) Laboratory setting
-> Artificial situation/limited sampling of behaviors
-> Limited sampling of situations
IRM-NS: Key features (5)
- Self-observations
- Naturalistic settings
- Multiple reports
- Close in time to occurrence of characteristic
- Relies on recent episodic memory
Designs for Collecting IRM-NS (4)
- Time-Contingent Recording
- Event-Contingent Recording
- Signal-Contingent Recording
- “Burst” Designs
Time-Contingent Recording def
Fixed time interval sampling
E.g. Daily diaries (At the end of the day, complete diary -> prompted response)
Event-Contingent Recording def
Event sampling (e.g. complete form as soon as possible following social interaction)
-> Records completed after a certain event
Signal-Contingent Recording def
Aka “Beeper” method. Random time interval sampling
-> Signal at random time to report whatever they have to report
-> Collect info that represents the entire living experience (random sampling)
“Burst” Designs def
Periods of measurement interspersed with periods of no measurement
-> Can be ANY of the designs
-> Useful for events when we know there’s change happening (e.g. children grow, pple undergo treatment…)
IRM-NS: Strengths (5)
- Less reliance on participant’s retrospective memories
- Less reliance on participant to integrate information about self
- Can provide contextual information
- Aggregation of multiple assessments should improve quality of information
- Can be used to characterize fluctuations in the individual as well as stability
Ways to Establish Reliability in IRM-NS (2)
- Internal Consistency:Can be assessed for individual measurements or aggregated scores.
-
Stability Over Time:Autocorrelations of daily aggregated scores and within-day standard deviations can evaluate temporal stability. These should be consistent if the phenomenon is stationary.
-> Both with alpha
How to Measure Stability Across Days (Social Behavior Inventory)
-> The mean of each scale calculated for each day
-> Coeff Alpha was calculated for each scale based on each of 20-day scores
Coeff alpha often increase as time passes by (4 days < 1 month) - time for behaviour to be stabilized
How to Measure Internal Consistency (Social Behavior Inventory)
Coeff alpha
Characterizing Behavior (2)
(1) Mean level
(2) Intra-individual variability
2 measures of Intra-individual variability
Spin, Flux
Intra-individual variability: Flux def
Fluctuations on EACH DIMENSION.
How much a person’s behavior changes in intensity over time.
E.g.: Someone’s level of friendliness might fluctuate a lot from being very warm one day to being distant the next.
Focus =** AMPLITUDE of fluctuation in continuous variable**s (high flux = lot of ups and downs, low flux = stable level)
Intra-individual variability: Spin
Applicable to models with** two orthogonal dimensions** (e.g., interpersonal circumplex).
Fluctuations in angular rotation around the person’s mean angular rotation.
-> Variability in behavioral orientation (e.g., from dominant to submissive)
How much a person shifts between DIFF TYPES OF BEHAVIOR over time (e.g., dominance -> warmth -> conflict).
Focus = direction of CHANGE across behaviors.
High spin = frequent switching between behaviors (e.g., friendly one moment, assertive the next).
Low spin = sticking to one type of behavior consistently.
Concerns or IRM-NS (4)
- Difficult to interpret meaning of individual’s scores (no norms or criterion-referenced validity)
- Will target individuals comply?
- Sample characteristics and attrition can threaten validity, especially with high participant demands, selective attrition, or noncompliance.
- Short forms with few items may affect internal consistency, making it potentially inferior to longer one-occasion measures.
