ch 2: personality assessment, measurement & research design

what is the structured self-report (S-data)?

responses are set…

• dichotomos (i.e., forced-choice)

• likert-ratings

what is the unstructured self-report (S-data)?

responses are not set…

• open-ended questions

what type of source of data is this?

dichotomous response schemes

what type of source of data is this?

likert rating

what are the pros and cons of structured?

pros

• standardization

• use of stats

cons

• limits in responses

• possible limited accuracy

what are the pros and cons of unstructured?

pros

• detailed

• no limits to responses

cons

• may not be standardized

• use of statistics may be limited — but research can be qualitative

what are limitations of self-report data?

• honesty in responses

• not having self-knowledge/objectivity

what are other s-data approaches?

• event-sampling → ecological momentary assessment

• self-report that occurs over time to assess variables that might change in ‘real-time‘

what was the methods in Kranzler et al., 2017?

• mobile tracker app, 2-weeks

  • intensity of thoughts about self-injury

  • occurences of self-injury

  • state-level emotions before and after engaging in self-injury

what were the key findings in Kranzler et al., 2017?

• increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions predicted intensity of self-injury thoughts

• increased negative emotions predicted engagment in self-injury

• after self-injury, participants reported decreases in intense negative emotion and increases in relief

what were the implications in Kranzler et al., 2017?

• self-injury is driven by the need for emotion regulation (coping)

• focusing on emotion regulation is likely critical in intervention

what is observer (o-data)?

involved gathering data from other individuals (i.e., not the self)

• pros: access to unique data and multiple informants

• cons: objectively AND respondents may not be able to infer internal processes (e.g., feelings)

where is o-data collected?

• naturalistic setting → observations in a natural, real-life setting

• artificial setting → observations that occur in settings created to resemble a real-life setting

what are test (t-data)?

utilizes standardized testing situations to determine aspects of personality

• mechanical recording

• physiological data

• projective tests

what are the limitations to test data?

• participants may ‘guess‘ the trait being assessed & create an impression

• participants & researchers may view the testing situation differently

• the influence of the researcher(s) on the participant(s)

what is reliability?

whether data reflect the true level of what is being measured

• consistency of measurement

what are the types of reliability?

• test-retest → scores of a measure correlate on repeated measures

• internal consistency → items on 1 measure correlate with each other

• inter-rater → rating of 1 observer correlates with those of another

what are response sets (impacts reliability…)?

response tendency that is unrelated to item content

• acquiescence

• extreme responding

• social desirability

what is validity?

degree to which a test measures what it claims to measure

what are the types of validity?

• face → whether it appears to measure what it should

• predictive (criterion) → whether the test predicts criteria it is supposed to

• convergent → whether the test correlates with other, similar, tests

• discriminant → refers to what the measure should not correlate with

• construct → includes all types of validity — broader in scope

what is generalizability?

whether a measure retains validity over different contexts/samples

what are the research designs in personality?

• experimental methods

• correlational studies

• case studies

what are experimental methods

used to determine causality

• two main requirements

  • independent variable is manipulated to affect the dependent variable

  • participants are equivalent (via random assignment)

what are correlational studies?

used to understand if 2 (or more) variables share a relation

• correlation coefficient

  • indicates direction & degree of relation

  • range: -1 to +1

• limitation

  • directionality (no causation)

  • third variable