Psychometrics

Question 1

why have psychometrics?

Answer 1

to measure and quantify constructs

allow a falsifiable theoretical hypothesis

Question 2

discrete

Answer 2

finite range of values

dichotomous (more than 2 values)

or polyotomous

Question 3

continuous

Answer 3

no theoretical limit

must be measured using scales

gives estimates

Question 4

nominal scale

Answer 4

numbers used as labels

info carried by numbers to identify e.g. male/female = 1/2

mathematical operations

Question 5

ordinal

Answer 5

ranking system - hierarchy

info carried by numbers - identity and rank order - but no info about distance between observations

eg percentile scores

non-parametric tests

limitation - distribution differences between rank scores

Question 6

interval

Answer 6

equal intervals between time units - meaningful difference between consecutive numbers - reflects equal distance

no true 0 - cannot calculate

info carried by numbers

eg celcius temperatire

Question 7

ratio

Answer 7

possesses a 0

eg periods of time

problems - used for Stanford-Binet intelligence test - to see mental and chronological age - measured using different scales, so cannot use one as a proportion of the other

Question 8

norm-referenced

Answer 8

performance compared with a reference group - used to assess developmental norms (ordinal scale) and within-group norms (normal distribution)

good for exams

BUT norm-referenced testing may be the cause of the decline in educational standards - only compared within same year, not previous year, so decline across years goes unnoticed

may put minorities at a disadvantage

Question 9

criterion references

Answer 9

whether someone has achieved the required level of performance, advantages of predicting behaviour outside the testing situation e.g. testing for job competence

Question 10

domain references

Answer 10

indicated how well a person does on a particular type of task - how likely they are in everyday life to show a type of behaviour

Question 11

test development

Answer 11

1- plan - constructs, population, objectives
2- generate item pool
3- submit item to review
4- pilot
5- evaluate results )quantitative/ qualitative)
6- cross-validation - additional trial administrations
7- standardise test length, sequence, administration
8- administer test

Pretty Girls Suck Penis Each Creating Sticky Arms

Question 12

selected responses

Answer 12

closed ended, e.g.. MCQs
forced choice questions
+ - easy and objective scoring, improves reliability, testing time is good (many tests at one time), simplifying quantitative analysis

_ - guessing, may be lucky, incorrect answers to objective measures can be due to haste and carelessness, difficult to balance options, certain constructs difficult to measure this way, less flexible then constructed response items

Question 13

constructed response

Answer 13

open ended and varies limitless, sometimes used to assess personality using projective techniques e.g. test takers respond to ambiguous stimuli like pictures or words

+ - rich data - unique characteristics, more ecologically valid

_ - time consuming, more complex, reliability, test length makes less reliable e.g. need more time for administration so number of times can be included less, content sampling errors and produce less consistent scores

Question 14

quantitative

Answer 14

statistical, item fairness

Question 15

qualitative

Answer 15

uses judgements of viewers to determine accuracy and fairness

appropriateness, clarity and grammatical correctness, basic rules, bias

Question 16

item fairness

Answer 16

see if an item is bias by seeing if test scores have the same meaning for members of different groups

Question 17

item difficulty

Answer 17

how difficult items are and if they are equally difficult to everyone

calculate relative difficulty of population

Question 18

item discrimination

Answer 18

degree to which the test differentiates between test takers of different abilities/behaviours/groups

Question 19

occupational psychology - personnel selection

Answer 19

note what staff does and make a list of cog. skills needed

administer tests that correlate with aspect of the job performance

validate the test

problems with faking and bias

value of ‘g’

Question 20

educational psychology

Answer 20

assessing dyslexia - give ability tests. if dyslexic, will perform better on non-language assessed parts

assessing ASD - social, communicative and behavioural difficulties - autistic diagnostic observation schedule

scores not accurate or valid enough to ale fine discriminations, can stigmatise children

Question 21

clinical psychology

Answer 21

Minnesota Miltiphasic Personality Inventory (pathology) - empiricle scales, meaningful

depression - rating scale - Hamilton rating scale, questionnaires

Question 22

neuropsychological assessment

Answer 22

detects deficits in cognitive abilities, assessing general intellectual functioning, memory, language, reading/writing ect

organic amnesia tests - autobiographical memory interview for retrograde amnesia

executive function e.g. strop test

Burgess and Shallice - sentence completion test

Question 23

forensic psychology

Answer 23

legal system,

US psychometric tests to see if individuals should be tried in court

need to assess people to see if they have a disorder

could fake - can’t just do a questionnaire

Question 24

construct validity

Answer 24

people think intelligence is different at different ages, across and between cultures, and psychologists assign dif. meanings to intelligence and other personality traits for example

Question 25

internal bias

Answer 25

1- social desirability - make selves appear more E, A, C, O not N
2- self deception - inaccurate answers, misguided about behaviour
3- more likely to agree than disagree with statements, norming
4- factors influencing test performance - motivation, expectation, practise, anxiety

Question 26

external bias

Answer 26

traits often correlated with other variables, so dif to decide if trait is the cause of a behaviour

eg correlates with social class, social disadvantage

Question 27

both

Answer 27

tests have been misused e.g. immigrants in 1920s

tests sometimes at fault - biased genuine difference

social disadvantage, contain items that are less meaningful to different cultures, attitude and motivational difference, social defined construct, complex interaction