Measurement and Sampling Methods in Psychology

These flashcards cover key concepts, definitions, and methods related to measurement and sampling in psychology research.

Self-Report Measure

A method of operationalizing a variable by recording people's answers to questions about themselves in a questionnaire or interview.

Observational Measures

Methods that operationalize a variable by recording observable behaviors or physical traces of behavior.

Physiological Measure

Operationalizes a variable by recording biological data, such as brain activity, hormone levels, or heart rate.

Ordinal Scale

A scale of measurement used for variables that have a meaningful order but do not have a standard interval between them.

Interval Scale

A scale of measurement where the difference between values is meaningful, but there is no true zero point.

Ratio Scale

A scale of measurement that has both a meaningful order and a true zero point representing absence of the variable.

Test-Retest Reliability

The consistency in results every time a measure is used.

Interrater Reliability

The degree to which two or more coders or observers give consistent ratings of a set of targets.

Internal Reliability

Consistency in a pattern of answers within a measure that contains several items.

Face Validity

The extent to which a measure is subjectively considered a plausible operationalization of the conceptual variable.

Criterion Validity

An empirical measure of validity that reflects how well one measure predicts an outcome based on another measure.

Convergent Validity

A test measuring the extent to which a self-report measure correlates with other measures of a theoretically similar construct.

Discriminant Validity

A test measuring the extent to which a self-report measure does not correlate strongly with measures of theoretically dissimilar constructs.

Content Validity

The extent to which a measure captures all parts of a defined construct.

Population

The entire set of people or products in which you are interested.

Sample

A smaller set taken from the population.

Census

A complete set of observations that includes all members of a population of interest.

External Validity

The extent to which the results of a study can be generalized to and have relevance for settings, people, times, and measures other than the ones used in the study.

Biased Sample

A sample in which some members of the population have a much higher chance of being included than others.

Unbiased Sample

A sample where all members of the population have an equal chance of being included.

Convenience Sampling

Sampling using a group of participants who are easily accessible.

Probability Sampling

Sampling techniques in which every member of the population of interest has an equal and known chance of being selected.

Systematic Sampling

A probability sampling technique where every Nth member of a population is selected after a random starting point is established.

Cluster Sampling

Sampling method where individuals are randomly selected from clusters, which can be naturally occurring groups.

Oversampling

A variation of stratified random sampling where a researcher intentionally overrepresents one or more groups.

Random Sampling

A method that enhances external validity by creating a sample using a random method.

Random Assignment

A method used only in experimental designs to enhance internal validity by ensuring that comparison groups are similar.