Research Methods and Test construction Flashcards
In the context of psychological assessment, the terms “floor” and “ceiling” refer to:
A. the lowest and highest true scores an examinee is likely to have, given his or her obtained predictor score.
B. the lowest and highest scores an examinee is likely to obtain on a criterion, given his or her predictor score.
C. the degree to which a test can discriminate among examinees who have very low levels or very high levels of the characteristic measured by the test.
D. the degree to which a test accurately predicts the criterion scores of examinees who obtain very low scores or very high scores on the test.
A test has limited floor when it cannot discriminate well among examinees who have a low level of the characteristic measured by the test because the test does not include a sufficient number of easy items. In contrast, a test has limited ceiling when it cannot discriminate well among examinees who have a high level of the characteristic measured by the test because it does not include a sufficient number of difficult items.
A psychologist is planning a research study to evaluate the effects of a two-hour online lecture on statistics for improving the statistics knowledge of 35 psychologists who have just started studying for the EPPP. All participants will (1) take a pre-test consisting of 50 multiple-choice statistics questions on Monday, (2) attend the online lecture on Wednesday evening, and (3) take a post-test consisting of 50 multiple-choice statistics questions that are equivalent to the pre-test questions on Friday. To analyze the data she obtains in her study, the researcher will use which of the following?
A. t-test for a single sample
B. t-test for correlated samples
C. two-way ANOVA
D. single-sample chi-square test
The first steps in identifying the appropriate statistical test are to identify the independent and dependent variables and the scale of measurement of the dependent variable. This study’s independent variable is the lecture on statistics and the dependent variable is statistics test score. The dependent variable is measured on a ratio scale, which means that the statistical test will be used to compare the mean scores obtained by the psychologists on the pre- and post-tests. The t-test and ANOVA are both used to compare mean scores, but because there are only two means, the t-test is the appropriate test. To determine which t-test to use, you determine how the means will be obtained: In this study they will be obtained from a single group of subjects, and the t-test for correlated samples is used when two means are obtained from the same group or from two groups that are related in some way.
Which of the following is a culture-reduced measure of fluid intelligence?
A. Kuhlmann-Anderson
B. Raven’s Progressive Matrices
C. Woodcock-Johnson
D. Slosson Intelligence Test
The Raven’s Progressive Matrices (RPM) tests are measures of fluid intelligence and are considered to be culture-reduced because they do not use language and performance does not depend on specific cultural or academic learning. There are three RPM tests: Standard Progressive Matrices, Colored Progressive Matrices, and Advanced Progressive Matrices.
