W1 L1: Introduction Big Picture

Definition of the study of psychological measurement; Why study it?; Course overview at the conceptual level; Illustration of some key concepts

what is psychological measurement?

systematic application of basic principles

to measure personal attributes

which are thought to be important in describing, understanding, and predicting human behaviour

what is another word for psychological measurement?

psychometrics

what are examples of attributes?

§Cognitive abilities

§Achievement

§Interests

§Personality

§Beliefs, values, attitudes

give an example of a cognitive attribute

exams in university; cognitive abilities: remembering GRE

what are assumptions in psychological measurement

• vairiability and behaviour

• 
  

  • variability

• §Hypothetical constructs vs. directly observable characteristics (e.g., height, weight)

  Ø So, we use behaviour as an indirect index of the hypothetical construct

what is variability?

• §Relatively stable differences among people on attributes (e.g., cognitive ability, personality, etc.) that influence behaviour

when is variability key?

individual differences

what is the basis of the correlation coefficient

variability

what is behaviour

§Hypothetical constructs vs. directly observable characteristics (e.g., height, weight)

Ø So, we use behaviour as an indirect index of the hypothetical construct

behaviour is your response to a scale, and the scale is tapping into these hypothetical constructs; can be tricky

-are the behaviours tapping into the hypothetical construct or not, are they good indices of these?

why is psychological measurement important?

in application, it is used to make important decisions about people

why is psychological measurement important in science/ research?

§Measurement of constructs is fundamental to science

Ø Conclusions from research are dependent on the quality of measures

how are you operationalizing your ideas? Is the idea bad, or do you need to operationalize your constructs better?

UNIMPORTANT what are some examples of psychological measurement in psychology?

Clinical: Depression predicts social anxiety

Social: People with high (vs low) self-esteem are more likely to make external attributions for task failure

Developmental: 3-year-olds who attend preschool (vs those who don’t) are more socially skilled at 5 years

Industrial & Organizational: Employees who perceive greater fairness are more committed to their organization

Cognitive: Greater working memory capacity predicts reading ability

Cognitive/Behavioral Neuroscience: Frontal lobe damage reduces executive function

UNIMPORTANT what are some examples of psychological measurements created by Waterloo psych faculty and grad students?

ostracism, social anxiety, wise reasoning, mind-wandering, pragmatics

UNIMPORTANT in the hourglass of research, where does measurement fall under?

it is at the most central part of research, and is critical; everything narrows to the measurement, and then expands from there

where are some examples of places where psychological measurement can be applied?

§Psychiatric Hospitals or Clinics

§Family or Child Guidance Centers

§Elementary and High Schools

§Colleges or Universities

§Business or Industry

UNIMPORTANT-try to do one each what are some examples of how psychological measurement is applied in elementary and high schools?

§Learning disorders

§ADD/ADHD

§Autism

§Giftedness

§Vocational interests

-think about the impact these tests end up having on students, like labelling someone and the support we can then give

UNIMPORTANT-try to do one each what are some examples of how psychological measurement is applied in Hospitals, Psychology & Psychiatric Clinics?

§Alzheimer’s

§Aphasia

§Bipolar disorder

§Dissociative disorder

§Psychopathology

UNIMPORTANT-try to do one each what are some examples of how psychological measurement is applied in Work Organizations?

§Cognitive Abilities (IQ)

§Personality

§Conscientiousness,

§Integrity, etc.

§Emotional Intelligence

§Cultural Intelligence

-tests used to make training, selection, and promotion detail

what is the custody rating scale?

part of decision for paroling incarcerating people

-biased against women and not a good predictor of recidivism of men,

under scutinity but still being used

expand on online rating systems

Online ratings are everywhere, they have consequences for workers e.g., pay of restaurant servers.

They are flawed, e.g., people are more likely to write a negative reviews

But hey there’s no turning back, so workers should embrace it…

don’t want us to embrace it; be critical consumers to see if tests are valid

UNIMPORTANT what is the purpose of the course?

Teach you the basic principles of psychological measurement

Ø How to evaluate the quality of a psychological test, and give you the basics for developing a test (measure/scale)

UNIMPORTANT What are some analytical tools gained from this course?

statistical assessment of reliability and validity; item analysis; bivariate and multiple regression; factor analysis; correlational regression

what is the course about? what is the question we are looking at?

-you have a construct (ie. extraversion) and its latent (can’t observe it); it’s underlying human behaviour

-going to write some items that we believe are good indices of these constructs, they reflect these constructs: reflective construct ONLY

Items will assess behaviours/thoughts/feelings, which reflect the construct

Do the items form a reliable and valid measure of construct?

what is the course not about?

You will not be developing a study to examine differences between groups 

e.g., 

§People who score high on my test will perform better in a sales job than people who score low

what are the two key concepts in this course, and what are they needed for?

reliability and validity

two benchmarks for any test to pass

what does reliability look at?

Are scores on the test/measure repeatable?

what does validity look at?

Do scores assess the construct?

what are the three components to test scores?

construct of interest, and the two factors that influence test scores:

random measurement error

systematic measurement error

what is the construct of interest?

some variability in test score should be this

what is random measurement error? what does it impact?

one of two factors that influence test scores, and that we want to reduce to reduce error

random: ie. sleeping wonky one night, but not something you carry all the time and affects us all differently; almost impossible to get rid of, want to minimize this

reduces reliability

what is systematic measurement error? what does it impact?

one of two factors that influence test scores, and that we want to reduce to reduce error:

carried with you at all times; could be a confound, like test anxiety on test score; want to reduce this

known as the construct of disinterest

reduces validity