Measurement Foundations & Validity

Flashcards covering key concepts related to measurement foundations and validity in psychological science.

Conceptual variable

A researcher’s definition of the variable in question at the theoretical level.

Operational variable

A researcher’s specific decision about how to measure or manipulate the conceptual variable.

Validity

Whether the operationalization is measuring what it is supposed to measure.

Reliability

How consistent the results of a measure are.

Self-report measures

Recording people’s answers to questions about themselves.

Observational measures

Recording observable behaviors or physical traces of behaviors.

Physiological measures

Recording biological data, usually requiring equipment to collect and analyze.

Ordinal scale

Applies when the numerals of a quantitative variable represent a ranked order.

Interval scale

Applies when the numerals of a quantitative variable represent equal intervals between levels, without a true zero.

Ratio scale

Applies when the numerals of a quantitative variable represent equal intervals and the value of zero truly means none.

Face validity

A measure has this when it is subjectively considered a plausible operationalization of the conceptual variable.

Content validity

A measure must capture all parts of a defined construct.

Criterion validity

Evaluates whether a measure is associated with a concrete behavioral outcome.

Convergent validity

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

Discriminant validity

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

Test-retest reliability

A participant will get the same score each time they are measured.

Inter-rater reliability

Consistent scores are obtained no matter who measures the variable.

Internal reliability

A participant gives a consistent pattern of answers regardless of how researchers phrase the question.