Psychometrics is the field of study concerned with the theory and technique of educational Education in the largest sense is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character or physical ability of an individual. In its technical sense, education is the process by which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills and values from one generation to another and psychological Psychology is the field study of human or animal mental functions and behaviors, often making use of the scientific method in laboratory research . In this field, a professional practitioner or researcher is a psychologist. Psychologists are classified as social or behavioral scientists. Psychological research can be considered either basic or measurement In science, measurement is the process of estimating or determining the magnitude of a quantity, such as length or mass, relative to a unit of measurement, such as a metre or a kilogram. The term measurement can also be used to refer to a specific result obtained from the measurement process, which includes the measurement of knowledge, abilities, attitudes, and personality traits. The field is primarily concerned with the construction and validation of measurement instruments, such as questionnaires A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions and other prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents. Although they are often designed for statistical analysis of the responses, this is not always the case. The questionnaire was invented by Sir Francis Galton, tests A test or an examination is an assessment, often administered on paper or on the computer, intended to measure the test-takers' or respondents' (often a student) knowledge, skills, aptitudes, or classification in many other topics (e.g., beliefs). Students are often allowed to bring reference books especially in the teaching fields of Mathematics,, and personality assessments.
It involves two major research tasks, namely: (i) the construction of instruments and procedures for measurement; and (ii) the development and refinement of theoretical approaches to measurement. Those who practice psychometrics are known as psychometricians and although they may also be clinical psychologists, they are not obliged to be so and could instead be (for example) human resources Human resources is a term used to describe the individuals who comprise the workforce of an organization, although it is also applied in labor economics to, for example, business sectors or even whole nations. Human resources is also the name of the function within an organization charged with the overall responsibility for implementing strategies or learning and development In the field of human resource management, training and development is the field concerned with organizational activity aimed at bettering the performance of individuals and groups in organizational settings. It has been known by several names, including employee development, human resource development, and learning and development professionals. Either way specific, separate, qualifications in psychometrics are required.
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Origins and background
Much of the early theoretical and applied work in psychometrics was undertaken in an attempt to measure intelligence Intelligence is an umbrella term describing a property of the mind comprehending related abilities, such as the capacities for abstract thought, reasoning, planning and problem solving, the use of language, and to learn. Francis Galton Sir Francis Galton FRS , cousin of Sir Douglas Galton, half-cousin of Charles Darwin, was an English Victorian polymath, anthropologist, eugenicist, tropical explorer, geographer, inventor, meteorologist, proto-geneticist, psychometrician, and statistician. He was knighted in 1909, often referred to as "the father of psychometrics", devised and included mental tests among his anthropometric Anthropometry , in physical anthropology, refers to the measurement of the human individual for the purposes of understanding human physical variation measures. However, the origin of psychometrics also has connections to the related field of psychophysics Psychophysics is a discipline within psychology that investigates the relationship between physical stimuli and their subjective correlates, or percepts. Psychophysics has been described as "the scientific study of the relation between stimulus and sensation" or, more completely, as "the analysis of perceptual processes by studying. Two other pioneers of psychometrics obtained doctorates in the Leipzig Psychophysics Laboratory under Wilhelm Wundt Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt was a German medical doctor, psychologist, physiologist, philosopher, and professor, known today as one of the founding figures of modern psychology. He is widely regarded as the "father of experimental psychology". In 1879, Wundt founded one of the first formal laboratories for psychological research at the: James McKeen Cattell James McKeen Cattell , American psychologist, was the first professor of psychology in the United States at the University of Pennsylvania and long-time editor and publisher of scientific journals and publications, most notably the journal Science in 1886 and Charles Spearman Charles Edward Spearman, FRS was an English psychologist known for work in statistics, as a pioneer of factor analysis, and for Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. He also did seminal work on models for human intelligence, including his theory that disparate cognitive test scores reflect a single general factor and coining the term g factor in 1906.
The psychometrician L. L. Thurstone Louis Leon Thurstone was a U.S. pioneer in the fields of psychometrics and psychophysics. He conceived the approach to measurement known as the law of comparative judgment, and is well known for his contributions to factor analysis, founder and first president of the Psychometric Society in 1936, developed and applied a theoretical approach to measurement referred to as the law of comparative judgment The law of comparative judgment was conceived by L. L. Thurstone. In modern day terminology, it is more aptly described as a model that is used to obtain measurements from any process of pairwise comparison. Examples of such processes are the comparison of perceived intensity of physical stimuli, such as the weights of objects, and comparisons of, an approach that has close connections to the psychophysical theory of Ernst Heinrich Weber Ernst Heinrich Weber was a German physician who is considered a founder of experimental psychology and Gustav Fechner Gustav Theodor Fechner , was a German experimental psychologist. An early pioneer in experimental psychology and founder of psychophysics, he inspired many 20th century scientists and philosophers. He is also credited with demonstrating the non-linear relationship between psychological sensation and the physical intensity of a stimulus via the. In addition, Spearman and Thurstone both made important contributions to the theory and application of factor analysis Factor analysis is a statistical method used to describe variability among observed variables in terms of a potentially lower number of unobserved variables called factors. In other words, it is possible, for example, that two or three observed variables together represent another, unobserved variable, and factor analysis searches for these, a statistical method developed and used extensively in psychometrics.
More recently, psychometric theory has been applied in the measurement of personality, attitudes, and beliefs, and academic achievement. Measurement of these unobservable phenomena is difficult, and much of the research and accumulated science in this discipline has been developed in an attempt to properly define and quantify such phenomena. Critics, including practitioners in the physical sciences Physical Science is an encompassing term for the branches of natural science and science that study non-living systems, in contrast to the biological sciences. However, the term "physical" creates an unintended, somewhat arbitrary distinction, since many branches of physical science also study biological phenomena and social activists, have argued that such definition and quantification is impossibly difficult, and that such measurements are often misused, such as with psychometric personality tests used in employment procedures:
- "For example, an employer wanting someone for a role requiring consistent attention to repetitive detail will probably not want to give that job to someone who is very creative and gets bored easily."[1]
Figures who made significant contributions to psychometrics include Karl Pearson Karl Pearson FRS established the discipline of mathematical statistics, Henry F. Kaiser, L. L. Thurstone Louis Leon Thurstone was a U.S. pioneer in the fields of psychometrics and psychophysics. He conceived the approach to measurement known as the law of comparative judgment, and is well known for his contributions to factor analysis, Georg Rasch, Johnson O'Connor, Frederic M. Lord Frederic M. Lord was a psychometrician for Educational Testing Service. He was the source of much of the seminal research on item response theory, including two important books: Statistical Theories of Mental Test Scores (1968, with Melvin Novick, and two chapters by Allen Birnbaum), and Applications of Item Response Theory to Practical Testing, Ledyard R Tucker, and Arthur Jensen Arthur Robert Jensen is a Professor Emeritus of educational psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. Jensen is known for his work in psychometrics and differential psychology, which is concerned with how and why individuals differ behaviorally from one another.
Definition of measurement in the social sciences
The definition of measurement in the social sciences has a long history. A currently widespread definition, proposed by Stanley Smith Stevens Stanley Smith Stevens was an American psychologist who founded Harvard's Psycho-Acoustic Laboratory and is credited with the introduction of Stevens' power law. Stevens authored a milestone textbook, the 1400+ page "Handbook of Experimental Psychology" (1951). He was also one of the founding organizers of the Psychonomic Society. In 1946 (1946), is that measurement is "the assignment of numerals to objects or events according to some rule". This definition was introduced in the paper in which Stevens proposed four levels of measurement The "levels of measurement", or scales of measure are expressions that typically refer to the theory of scale types developed by the psychologist Stanley Smith Stevens. Stevens proposed his theory in a 1946 Science article titled "On the theory of scales of measurement". In this article Stevens claimed that all measurement in. Although widely adopted, this definition differs in important respects from the more classical definition of measurement adopted in the physical sciences, which is that measurement is the numerical estimation and expression of the magnitude of one quantity relative to another (Michell, 1997).
Indeed, Stevens's definition of measurement was put forward in response to the British Ferguson Committee, whose chair, A. Ferguson, was a physicist. The committee was appointed in 1932 by the British Association for the Advancement of Science to investigate the possibility of quantitatively estimating sensory events. Although its chair and other members were physicists, the committee also included several psychologists. The committee's report highlighted the importance of the definition of measurement. While Stevens's response was to propose a new definition, which has had considerable influence in the field, this was by no means the only response to the report. Another, notably different, response was to accept the classical definition, as reflected in the following statement:
- "Measurement in psychology and physics are in no sense different. Physicists can measure when they can find the operations by which they may meet the necessary criteria; psychologists have but to do the same. They need not worry about the mysterious differences between the meaning of measurement in the two sciences." (Reese, 1943, p. 49)
These divergent responses are reflected in alternative approaches to measurement. For example, methods based on covariance matrices are typically employed on the premise that numbers, such as raw scores derived from assessments, are measurements. Such approaches implicitly entail Stevens's definition of measurement, which requires only that numbers are assigned according to some rule. The main research task, then, is generally considered to be the discovery of associations between scores, and of factors posited to underlie such associations.
On the other hand, when measurement models such as the Rasch model Rasch models are used for analysing data from assessments to measure things such as abilities, attitudes, and personality traits. For example, they may be used to estimate a student's reading ability from answers to questions on a reading assessment, or the extremity of a person's attitude to capital punishment from responses on a questionnaire are employed, numbers are not assigned based on a rule. Instead, in keeping with Reese's statement above, specific criteria for measurement are stated, and the goal is to construct procedures or operations that provide data that meet the relevant criteria. Measurements are estimated based on the models, and tests are conducted to ascertain whether the relevant criteria have been met.
Instruments and procedures
The first psychometric instruments were designed to measure the concept of intelligence Intelligence is an umbrella term describing a property of the mind comprehending related abilities, such as the capacities for abstract thought, reasoning, planning and problem solving, the use of language, and to learn. The best known historical approach involved the Stanford-Binet IQ test The development of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales initiated the modern field of intelligence testing. The Stanford-Binet test started with the French psychologist Alfred Binet, whom the French government commissioned with developing a method of identifying intellectually deficient children for their placement in special education programs, developed originally by the French psychologist Alfred Binet Alfred Binet , French psychologist and inventor of the first usable intelligence test, known at that time as Binet test basically today called IQ test. His principal goal was to identify students who needed special help in coping with the school curriculum. Along with his collaborator Théodore Simon, Binet published revisions of his intelligence. Contrary to a fairly widespread misconception, there is no compelling evidence that it is possible to measure innate intelligence through such instruments, in the sense of an innate learning capacity unaffected by experience, nor was this the original intention when they were developed. Nevertheless, intelligence tests are useful tools for various purposes. An alternative conception of intelligence is that cognitive capacities within individuals are a manifestation of a general component, or general intelligence factor The general intelligence factor is a controversial construct used in the field of psychology (see also psychometrics) to quantify what is common to the scores of all intelligence tests. It was postulated in 1904 by Charles Spearman and subsequently developed into a theory in 1923, as well as cognitive capacity specific to a given domain.
Psychometrics is applied widely in educational assessment to measure abilities in domains such as reading, writing, and mathematics. The main approaches in applying tests in these domains have been Classical Test Theory and the more recent Item Response Theory and Rasch Rasch models are used for analysing data from assessments to measure things such as abilities, attitudes, and personality traits. For example, they may be used to estimate a student's reading ability from answers to questions on a reading assessment, or the extremity of a person's attitude to capital punishment from responses on a questionnaire measurement models. These latter approaches permit joint scaling of persons and assessment items, which provides a basis for mapping of developmental continua by allowing descriptions of the skills displayed at various points along a continuum. Such approaches provide powerful information regarding the nature of developmental growth within various domains.
Another major focus in psychometrics has been on personality testing. There have been a range of theoretical approaches to conceptualizing and measuring personality. Some of the better known instruments include the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory is one of the most frequently used personality tests in mental health. The test is used by trained professionals to assist in identifying personality structure and psychopathology, the Five-Factor Model In contemporary psychology, the "Big Five" factors of personality are five broad domains or dimensions of personality which are used to describe human personality (or "Big 5") and tools such as Personality and Preference Inventory The Personality and Preference Inventory was originally designed by Dr Max Kostick, Professor of Industrial Psychology at Boston State College, in Massachusetts, USA, in the early 1960s and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment is a psychometric questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions.:1 These preferences were extrapolated from the typological theories originated by Carl Gustav Jung, as published in his 1921 book Psychological Types (English edition, 1923). Attitudes have also been studied extensively using psychometric approaches. A common method in the measurement of attitudes is the use of the Likert scale A Likert scale is a psychometric scale commonly used in questionnaires, and is the most widely used scale in survey research, such that the term is often used interchangably with rating scale even though the two are not synonomous. When responding to a Likert questionnaire item, respondents specify their level of agreement to a statement. The. An alternative method involves the application of unfolding measurement models, the most general being the Hyperbolic Cosine Model (Andrich & Luo, 1993).
Theoretical approaches
Psychometricians have developed a number of different measurement theories. These include classical test theory Classical test theory is a body of related psychometric theory that predict outcomes of psychological testing such as the difficulty of items or the ability of test-takers. Generally speaking, the aim of classical test theory is to understand and improve the reliability of psychological tests (CTT) and item response theory (IRT) [2][3] An approach which seems mathematically to be similar to IRT but also quite distinctive, in terms of its origins and features, is represented by the Rasch model Rasch models are used for analysing data from assessments to measure things such as abilities, attitudes, and personality traits. For example, they may be used to estimate a student's reading ability from answers to questions on a reading assessment, or the extremity of a person's attitude to capital punishment from responses on a questionnaire for measurement. The development of the Rasch model, and the broader class of models to which it belongs, was explicitly founded on requirements of measurement in the physical sciences.[4]
Psychometricians have also developed methods for working with large matrices of correlations and covariances. Techniques in this general tradition include: factor analysis Factor analysis is a statistical method used to describe variability among observed variables in terms of a potentially lower number of unobserved variables called factors. In other words, it is possible, for example, that two or three observed variables together represent another, unobserved variable, and factor analysis searches for these[5], a method of determining the underlying dimensions of data; multidimensional scaling Multidimensional scaling is a set of related statistical techniques often used in information visualization for exploring similarities or dissimilarities in data. MDS is a special case of ordination. An MDS algorithm starts with a matrix of item–item similarities, then assigns a location to each item in N-dimensional space, where N is specified[6], a method for finding a simple representation for data with a large number of latent dimensions; and data clustering Cluster analysis or clustering is the assignment of a set of observations into subsets so that observations in the same cluster are similar in some sense. Clustering is a method of unsupervised learning, and a common technique for statistical data analysis used in many fields, including machine learning, data mining, pattern recognition, image, an approach to finding objects that are like each other. All these multivariate descriptive methods try to distill large amounts of data into simpler structures. More recently, structural equation modeling Structural equation modeling is a statistical technique for testing and estimating causal relationships using a combination of statistical data and qualitative causal assumptions. This view[clarification needed] of SEM was articulated by the geneticist Sewall Wright (1921) , the economist Trygve Haavelmo (1943) and the political scientist Herbert[7] and path analysis In statistics, path analysis is used to describe the directed dependencies among a set of variables. As such, models equivalent to any form of multiple regression analysis, factor analysis, canonical correlation analysis, discriminant analysis, as well as more general families of models in the multivariate analysis of variance and covariance represent more sophisticated approaches to working with large covariance matrices. These methods allow statistically sophisticated models to be fitted to data and tested to determine if they are adequate fits.
One of the main deficiencies in various factor analysis is a lack of consensus in cutting points for determining the number of latent factors. A usual procedure is to stop factoring when eigenvalues drop below one because the original sphere shrinks. The lack of the cutting points concerns other multivariate methods, also.
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If you ever want to polarise opinion in a meeting of sales managers, just start talking about psychometric testing. You'll find that few hiring managers are ...
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Psychologist Bertrand Forer set up a . psychometric. test-- he had a bunch of questions for his subjects to answer. After they had completed, he gave them a detailed explanation of their personality. He then measured the validity of his ...
Q. Describe one way psychometric testing is used in sport to measure personality. Discuss the validity of psychometric testing in sport. Thank youuu :)
Asked by Rachel - Sun Sep 13 09:11:15 2009 - - 2 Answers - 0 Comments
A. Validity may be assessed by correlating measures with a criterion measure known to be valid. When the criterion measure is collected at the same time as the measure being validated the goal is to establish concurrent validity; when the criterion is collected later the goal is to establish predictive validity. A measure has construct validity if it is related to other variables as required by theory. Content validity is simply a demonstration that the items of a test are drawn from the domain being measured. In a personnel selection example, test content is based on a defined statement or set of statements of knowledge, skill, ability, or other characteristics obtained from a job analysis.
Answered by void - Sun Sep 13 09:59:48 2009
