Ch. 5 Measurement Concepts

Question 1

four scales of measurement

Answer 1

nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio

Question 2

Standard deviation is an example of which: nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio scales of
measurement?

Answer 2

(interval)

Question 3

What is a general definition of reliability?

Answer 3

extent to which a measure is free from measurement error

Question 4

Measurement error is …

Answer 4

the positive or negative bias within an observed score.

Question 5

The score a person receives on a test is made up of two elements:

Answer 5

the person’s true score and an error score that may add to or subtract from the true score.

Question 6

because error originates from the individual, test, and/or testing condition, _____ is impossible

Answer 6

no measurement error

Question 7

A test with perfect reliability would equate to …

Answer 7

no measurement error.

Question 8

A ____ score is never known.

Answer 8

true

Question 9

Each correlation coefficient contains 2 bits of information. What are these 2 bits of
information?

Answer 9

• direction (+ or -) of the relationship

- size of the relationship

Question 10

The _________ correlation coefficient (r) is the most common type of correlation
coefficient

Answer 10

Pearson product-moment

Question 11

three types of reliability:

Answer 11

Test-retest reliability
Interitem consistency
interrater reliability

Question 12

T or F: Reliability is a precursor to validity but not sufficient by itself.

Answer 12

(True)

Question 13

content validity

Answer 13

extent to which the content of an assessment represents the construct being measured

Question 14

two types criterion-related validity:

Answer 14

concurrent and predictive

Question 15

_____ validity is measured at the time of the initial assessment, while _______ validity is assessed after the initial assessment

Answer 15

concurrent; predictive

Question 16

criterion-related validity

Answer 16

extent to which an assessment correlates with the actual presence of the characteristic being measured

Question 17

Sensitivity

Answer 17

the power of a test to avoid false negatives and identify the trait/construct it intends to identify

Question 18

specificity

Answer 18

the power of a test to avoid false positives and identify the lack of a trait or construct being measured.

Question 19

___ validity refers to the correlation between a test and other tests measuring the same construct; while ____ validity refers to the lack of correlation between the test and measures of constructs purported to be different.

Answer 19

convergent; discriminant

Question 20

factor analysis

Answer 20

form of validity analysis that can determine whether the test items fall together in different factors the way that the theory suggests they should

Question 21

treatment validity

Answer 21

the extent to which a measure has a clinically useful effect on client outcomes

Question 22

validity scales

Answer 22

tools used to determine response distortions

Question 23

three types of response distortions:

Answer 23

faking bad, faking good, and random response