Week 1: Psychometrics Flashcards
The quantitative assessments of latent (hidden/ concealed/ not yet manifested) psychological constructs are also known as:
Psychometrics
Precision and accuracy are examples of _____ properties (think very general)!
psychometric properties
Representativeness is a sample quality.
What does this quality define?
Define Kaplan’s paradox of sampling which relates to this.
Representativeness describes how well a sample reflects the population.
The paradox of sampling is that we can’t test representativeness, and if we could, we wouldn’t need a sample in the first place!
Name the quality which describes the degree of systematic (or random) error present in the sample. This quality can produce over or underestimates of population values, and comes in many different forms.
Biasedness
Describe the instability of psychological attributes present in the population with which the sample is drawn from. How is this measure expressed?
The degree of homogeneity/ non-homogeneity in the members of the population reflects the instability of that psychological attribute in that population. eg if the psychological attribute was stable then it would also be homogeneous
Standardised questionnaires are an example of _____ scoring whereas an assessors judgement of a vignette or a projective test is an example of ____ scoring
Standardised questionnaires are an example of objective scoring whereas an assessors judgement of a vignette or a projective test is an example of subjective scoring.
IQ is an example of a _____ score
standardised
Z-scores, T-scores and area transformations (quartiles, deciles, percentiles) are all examples of:
Standardisations and scale transformations
How would a sample size limitation effect errors inferred by the test results?
Errors tend to be inversely proportional to sample size, therefore a limited sample size could mean that a large error if inferred.
In psychometric testing, the degree to which a claim is correct or true is known as ____. This also reflects the appropriateness, usefulness or meaningfulness of test scores and their interpretations.
validity
The levels of logical biases or statistical errors in the test construction and conclusions/outputs will greatly affect the ____ of a psychometric test
validity
Why do assessments of validity constructs focus on scores/ data/ outcomes and functions?
Because they are measurable. If the outcome or function operates in the way that we claimed it would, then the construct is valid.
In statistics, unknowns are seen as _____, in the same category as mistakes
In statistics, unknowns are seen as errors
Why is construct validity also known as factorial validity? What does this validity type relate to?
Because all the constructs should fit one factor. Therefore the test is measuring the construct (or factor) that it claims to.
What is operationalisation, in regards to creating psychometric tests?
Operationalisation is a way of constructing psychometric tests which allows for empirical assessment of constructs or variables in the test.
High levels of correlation (statistical relation) between
(a) items that make up the same or related constructs,
or
(b) tests that measure the same or related constructs
describes which type of validity?
Convergence validity
Low levels of correlation between
(a) items that make up unrelated constructs, or
(b) tests that assess unrelated constructs describes which type of validity?
Discriminant validity
Concurrent validity and predictive validity are both examples of ____-____ validity. This validity type refers to the degree to which a test correlates with one more parallel or outcome citeria.
Criterion-related validity
Concurrent validity represents which kind of criterion-related validity?
Explain what long vs short or parallel forms of a personality measurement represents.
Concurrent validity represents criteria which are in the present.
Long versus short forms are different versions of the same assessment, with more or less questions (eg 500 items vs 50 items).
Parallel forms are different tests which use the same criterion eg both are measuring neuroticism.
Although psychological testing has existed since ancient times, the systematic approach currently used has only been developed over the past ___ years
100
Valid construct or assessment consistency across different settings, e.g. samples, populations, age, cultures, time-periods, etc, refers to ____ validity
external validity
The degree to which a test score reflects a construct’s or phenomenon’s natural behaviour in the world is known as ____ validity, a type of external validity.
ecological validity
The degree to which a relationship is not equal eg Nik can mark my assignments but I can’t mark his, is know as _____
asymmetry
The degree of confidence on the nature of asymmetric causal relations (treatment and outcome relationships), between the measured constructs is known as internal validity.
What does this mean?
Internal validity represents the degree of confidence on the nature of asymmetric relations between the measured constructs:
How confident are we that some constructs that we measure cause other constructs that we also measure?