Midterm (Oct. 20, 2017) Flashcards
What are the 3 defining characteristics of a psychological test?
- Sample of behaviour
- Obtained under standardized conditions
- Established rules for scoring/obtaining numeric info from sample of behaviour
Ideally, psychological tests should be:
Standardized
Representative
Consistent
What are some uses of psychological testing?
- making important decisions about individuals
- hiring decisions
- clinical diagnosis
- entrance scores
- vocational placement
- credentials, licensure
What are some drawbacks of psychological testing?
- limited precision
- no method guarantees complete accuracy
What are several categories of human behaviour that are hard to quantify?
- social
- physical
- psychological
What are the 6 assumptions of psychological testing?
- psychological tests measure what they are intended to
- individual’s behaviour and associated test scores will typically remain stable over time
- individuals will understand items in the same way
- individuals will report accurately about themselvs
- individuals will report honestly about their thoughts and feelings
- individual’s score is reflective of “true score” and error
What are the 3 general types of tests in psychological testing?
- Task performance
- Behavioural observation
- Self-report measures
Describe standardized tests
- administered to a large group
- representative of those for whom test as been designed
- formal for multiple administrations
Describe unstandardized tests
- administered to small groups
- less formal for single administration
Describe behavioural observation
Assesses typical behaviour or performance within a specific context, NOT maximal performance
Describe objective tests
- participants choose response out of several options
- predetermined “correct” response
- objective scoring
Describe projective tests
- unstructured
- participants required to respond to ambiguous stimuli
Describe objective scoring
- same scoring rules apply for every individual
- theoretically should arrive at the same final score
- structured (ex. Big 5 personality test)
Describe subjective scoring
- scores rely on judgment of examiner
- used by highly trained experts
- unstructured (ex. Rorschach inkblot test)
What are some similarities between psychological tests?
- measure individual behaviour
- behaviour is used to measure a particular construct
- may be used to make predictions
What are some differences between psychological tests?
- specific behaviour and construct being measured
- how, when, where test was administered
- scoring and interpretation
- validity and reliability are unique to each test
What is the assumption/founding idea of psychological measurement?
People differ in discernable ways in terms of abilities/attitudes/beliefs
Define variability
measure of extent to which test scores vary
Define standard deviation
the difference between individual’s score and mean (how much individuals deviate from the mean)
What is variance
the measure of the extent to which test scores differ or vary
(the average of squared deviation scores)
What are Z scores
standardized scores to draw comparisons between deviation scores
Define correlation
describes relationship between variables and scores
What makes a positive correlation?
increase in one variable, increase in other variable
What makes a negative correlation?
increase in one variable, decrease in other variable
What is factor analysis?
statistical technique used to analyze patterns of correlation among different measures
What does factor analysis accomplish?
- simplifies data interpretation (reduces number of variables)
- focus on research moves from specific tests to more general factors (have many of the same characteristics of construct)
What is a correlation coefficient?
statistical measure of relationship between 2 sets of scores
What is linear regression?
method for predicting scores on one measure on the basis of scores on some other measure
What is reliability?
the consistency of test scores
What is validity?
the degree to which inferences made on the basis of test scores are correct
What are the 4 scales of measurement?
- interval scale
- nominal scale
- ordinal scale
- ratio scale
Define interval scales:
size of differences between objects reflected by difference in numbers assigned
Define nominal scales:
numbers identify objects, but size of numbers is meaningless
Define ordinal scales:
rank order of numbers corresponds to rank order of objects measured
Define ratio scales:
ordinal and interval properties found, true and meaningful zero point
What are crucial components of evaluating psychological tests?
Reliability and validity
What is validity of measurement?
inferences regarding attribute being measured
What is validity for decisions?
inferences that will affect decisions made about test taker
What are the 3 stages of test development?
- test construction (items writing, scale construction, response sets, selection of test format)
- New tests are standardized for use on target populations, norms developed, research to establish estimates of test’ reliability and validity
- tests revised to keep them contemporary, with respect to norms available and item content
What are common issues in item writing?
- item length (cause confusion, major point missed)
- vocabulary (reading level, wording, double negative, ambiguous)
- types of language (sexist, racist, offensive, gender-specific –> may promote negative feelings toward testing)
What are the drawbacks to theoretical item writing?
- transparent
- people respond how they would like to appear, not how they perceive themselves
What are the advantages to atheoretical item writing?
- generate large item pool with diverse content
- create items that will differentiate responses of one group from another
- generally less transparent
- less subject to examinee distortion
What are rational scales?
Implies underlying thought, belief, rationale as basis for selecting items, grouping them into a scale
What are the advantages of a rational scale?
- draw on theory to make predictions because scales are designed to measure theory’s concepts
What are the disadvantages of a rational scale?
- usefulness is tied to validity of theory used
- transparent nature of scales, not difficult to understand what item measures
What are empirical scales?
- scales that rely on criterion keying for validity
- only items that clearly separate one group from another would be used
What are rational-empirical scales?
- combine aspects of both rational and empirical approaches
- allows test developers to utilize advantages of each method
What are factors that affect test scores?
- lasting and general
- lasting and specific
- temporary and general
- temporary and specific
- testing situation
- chance factors
What is the goal of reliability?
to estimate errors in measurement, suggest ways of improving tests so errors are minimized
How does test-retest estimate reliability?
directly assess degree to which test scores consistent from one administration to the next
How does alternate forms method work?
- administer one form of test to group
- administer alternate form of same test to same group
- correlate scores of both tests to estimate reliability
How does split-half method work?
- administer test to group
- split test in half
- correlate 2 halves to estimate reliability
How does internal consistency method work?
- administer test to group
- compute correlations among all items and averages of inter-correlations
- using formula to estimate reliability
