Measurement

Question 1

Measurement

Answer 1

The assignment of scores to individuals so that the scores represent some characteristic of the individuals

Question 2

Psychometrics

Answer 2

A subfield of psychology concerned with the theories and techniques of psychological measurement

Question 3

Conceptual Definition

Answer 3

Describes the behaviours and internal processes that make up a psychological construct, along with how it relates to other variables.

Question 4

Operational Definition

Answer 4

A definition of a variable in terms of how precisely it is to be measured

Question 5

Self-Report Measures

Answer 5

Measures in which participants report on their own thoughts, feelings and actions

Question 6

Behavioral Measures

Answer 6

Measures in which some aspect of human behaviour is observed and recorded

Question 7

Physiological Measurement

Answer 7

Measures that involve recording any of a wide variety of physiological processes, i.e. heart rate, hormone levels, blood pressure etc.

Question 8

Levels of Measurement

Answer 8

Four categories or scales of measurement that specify the types of information that a set of scores can have, and the types of statistical procedures that can be used with these scores

Question 9

Converging Operations

Answer 9

When psychologists use multiple operational definitions of the same construct- either within a study or across studies

Question 10

Nominal Level

Answer 10

Used for categorical variables and involves assigning scores that are category labels. There is no superiority order to the variables i.e. asking someone to tick their favourite colour

Question 11

Ordinal Level

Answer 11

A measurement that involves assigning scores so that they represent the rank order of the individuals i.e. very dissatisfied, dissatisfied, satisfied, very satisfied

Question 12

Interval Level

Answer 12

A measurement that involves assigning scores using numerical scales in which intervals have the same interpretation throughout i.e. an IQ test

Question 13

Ratio Level

Answer 13

A measurement that involves assigning scores in such a way that there is a true zero point that represents the complete absence of the quantity i.e. number of siblings that a person has

Question 14

Reliability

Answer 14

The consistency of a measure

Question 15

Test-Retest Reliability

Answer 15

When researchers measure a construct that they assume to be consistent across time, then the scores that they obtain should also be consistent across time i.e. intelligence

Question 16

Internal Consistency

Answer 16

The consistency of people’s responses across the items on a multiple- item measure i.e. people with high levels of self worth should agree that they possess a number of good qualities

Question 17

Split-half Correlation

Answer 17

A score that is derived by splitting the items into two sets and examining the relationship between the two sets of scores to assess the internal consistency of a measure

Question 18

Cronbach’s α

Answer 18

A statistic that measures internal consistency among items in a measure

Question 19

Interrater Reliability

Answer 19

The extent to which different observers are consistent in their judgement

Question 20

Validity

Answer 20

The extent to which the scores from a measure represent the variable they are intended to

Question 21

Face Validity

Answer 21

The extent to which a measurement method appears on superficial examination to measure the construct of interest i.e. a self esteem quiz asking whether you think that you have good qualities

Question 22

Content Validity

Answer 22

The extent to which a measure reflects all aspects of the construct of interest i.e. if a researcher defines test anxiety as having both nervous feelings and negative thoughts, then his measure of text anxiety should include negative feelings and negative thoughts

Question 23

Criterion Validity

Answer 23

The extent to which people’s scores on a measure are correlated with other variables (known as criteria) that one would expect them to be correlated with i.e. high test anxiety having a negative correlation with low test performance

Question 24

Criterion

Answer 24

Any variable that theoretically should be correlated with the construct being measured

Question 25

Concurrent Validity

Answer 25

A form of criterion validity where the criterion is measured at the same time as the construct

Question 26

Predictive Validity

Answer 26

A form of validity whereby the criterion is measured at some point in the future (after the construct has been measured) to determine that the construct “predicts” the criterion

Question 27

Convergent Validity

Answer 27

A form of criterion validity whereby new measures are correlated with existing established measures of the same construct

Question 28

Discriminative Validity

Answer 28

The extent to which scores on a measure of a construct are NOT correlated with measures of other conceptually distinct constructs and thus discriminate between them

Question 29

Socially Desirable Responding

Answer 29

When participants respond in ways that they think are socially acceptable

Question 30

Demand Characteristics

Answer 30

Subtle cues that reveal to the participants what the researcher expects them to respond in the experiment

Question 31

Performance Measures

Answer 31

Rigorously developed tests or tasks to accurately measure the individual differences in psychological variables using accuracy and reaction time

Question 32

Linguistic Measurement

Answer 32

Measures or characteristics of text data using specific software i.e. word count, pronoun use

Question 33

Psychological Constructs

Answer 33

Descriptions of those aspects of behaviour or experience that we cannot directly observe or measure i.e. stress

Question 34

Known Groups Validity

Answer 34

A new measure performs as expected in groups that differ in some known way

Question 35

Alternative Forms Reliability

Answer 35

Looks at the degree t which two versions of a test are measuring the same thing