Research Methods Chapter 5 (Measurement in Psychology) Flashcards
In Psychology, what is a construct?
A construct is a psychological attribute (variable), which is not directly observable.
For example, Intelligence and Personality is a construct.
What is operationalization?
Operationalization is the way a construct is measured. There may be many possible operationalizations for a construct.
What are the 3 types of opertionalization and their advantages.
- Self report (questionaries): very subjective and inaccurate
- Observational
- Physiological: very objective, but can be wrong or tricked.
What are the two types of data?
categorical (categories and numbers have no meaning) and quantitative (numbers have direct meaning)
what are the three types of quantitative variables?
- Ordinal scale: rankings (what rank in a race?)
- Interval scale: numbers tell value, but 0 is also a value (temperature, IQ)
- Ratio scale: numbers tell value, 0 is “no value” (points on test, height
Explain reliability and its three types
Reliability asks how consistent the results are. It can be measured by the value r.
- Test-Retest reliability: are the results no a replication the same?
- Interrater reliability: having more than one observer and compare results
- Internal reliability: do similar tests to the normal one get similar results (questions)
What is validity and what are it’s 5 types
Validity asks if the study is measuring the right thing correctly.
- Face validity: Normal judgement (very subjective)
- Content validity: does it measure all parts of the construct? (Also subjective)
- Criterion validity: Are the results associated with something they should be with (IQ to grades)
- Convergent validity: are the results similar to other similar studies?
- Discriminant validity: results should not associate with something different
What is construct validity?
Construct validity asks how well variables are measured and manipulated in a study.
