Week 3 Tut - Reliability, Validity, and Assessment of Psychological

Question 1

what is reliability?

Answer 1

• Reliability refers to a consistency in measuring a construct – a test is only as valid as it is reliable!

Question 2

what is validity?

Answer 2

how well does a test measure what it says it measures

Question 3

Types of Reliability

Answer 3

• Internal Consistency
• Test-Retest (Stability Coefficient)
• Split-Half
• Alternate Form
• Short-form/long-form

Question 4

types of validity?

Answer 4

construct (convergent and discriminant)
content
internal
external (ecological)
conclusion
criterion-related
predictive
concurrent
face

Question 5

What are the norms of the beck depression inventory (BDI-II)

Answer 5

Norms:
• 0-13 = minimal depression 
• 14-19 = mild
• 20-28 = moderate
• 29-63 = severe

Question 6

what are the scorings of the beck anxiety scale (BAI)?

Answer 6

Scoring:
• Notatall=0
• Mildly = 1
• Moderately = 2 
• Severely = 3

Question 7

what are the norms of the BAI?

Answer 7

Norms:
• 0-7 = minimal
• 8-15 = mild
• 16-25 = moderate 
• 26-63 = severe

Question 8

what are the four clusters of scores in the BAI?

Answer 8

Four clusters of scores:

1. Neurophysiological – numbness, wobbling, dizzy, faint
2. Subjective – unable to relax, fear of worst, terrified, anxious
3. Panic – heart pounding and racing, choking, difficulty breathing, fear of dying
4. Autonomic – feeling hot, indigestion, face flushed, sweating

Question 9

what are the norms of the depression, anxiety, stress scale, 21 item version (DASS-21)

Answer 9

These norms are relative to the normal population

DEPRESSION
Normal - 0-4
Mild - 5-6
Moderate - 7-10
Severe - 11-13
Extremely Severe - 14+

ANXIETY
Normal - 0-3
Mild - 4-5
Moderate - 6-7
Severe - 8-9
Extremely Severe - 10+

STRESS
Normal - 0-7
Mild - 8-9
Moderate - 10-12
Severe - 13-16
Extremely Severe - 17+

Question 10

How do scores work work in the personality assessment inventory (PAI)

Answer 10

• How we use and interpret a measure such as the PAI will depend on the setting, purpose of the assessment, and reason for administration
  • E.g., inpatient psychiatric setting versus police force admission
• Scores are compared to a community sample of 1000 US citizens (i.e., typical
  average adults)
• Raw scores are converted to T scores: M = 50, SD = 10
  • So a T score of 50 = normal, a T score of 60 = elevated (roughly 84th percentile), and a T score of 70 = likely clinically significant (roughly 96th percentile)
• The PAI scoring profile also shows us the ‘skyline’ – this is 2SD above the mean for a clinical sample (i.e., around 98% of a clinical sample will score below this)
  • This helps us determine a valid profile

Question 11

how do you determine if a PAI profile is valid?

Answer 11

1. Check missing items
   • If 18 or more unanswered, don’t interpret at all
   • If >20% on a single scale missing, don’t interpret that scale
2. Inconsistency scale (ICN)
   • Compares responses on 10 pairs of items (5 same, 5 opposite)
   • A high T scores usually reflects carelessness, confusion, failure to attend to negative items (e.g., “I have not trouble falling asleep” v “I rarely have trouble sleeping”).
   • What else could a high score mean?
3. Infrequency scale (INF)
   • Unusual questions with a very low endorsement rate (in both normal and clinical populations). Infrequent but not bizarre sounding:
   • My favourite poet is Raymond Kertezc (he doesn’t exist!)
   • Most people would rather win than lose
   • My favourite two hobbies are archery and stamp collecting
   • High scores usually mean random responding, carelessness, or indifference
4. Negative Impression (NIM)
   • Aims to measure “faking bad” (exaggerated unfavourable impression)
   • Mixture of distorted impression of self/circumstances (e.g., “since the day I was born I was destined to be unhappy”) and bizarre/unlikely symptoms (e.g., “sometimes my vision is only in black and white”)
   • A high score could indicate Malingering – what else?
5. Positive Impression (PIM)
   • Aims to measuring “faking good” (presentation of a very favourable impression of the self or denial of even minor faults)
   • A lot of these are “sometimes I…” – hard to say a strong ‘no’ to most!
   • A high score generally means someone is likely not telling the truth and wanting to make themselves look ‘good’ – what else could it mean?