Exam 2: Good Measurement Flashcards
(22 cards)
What is construct validity?
The degree to which a test measures what it claims to be measuring.
What is reliability in measurement?
The consistency of a measurement over time or across observers.
What are self-report measures?
Measurements where participants report on their own behaviors or attitudes.
What is inter-rater reliability?
The degree to which different observers agree in their measurements.
What is internal reliability?
The consistency of responses across items in a survey measuring the same construct.
What is criterion validity?
How well a measure correlates with an outcome it should theoretically predict.
What is convergent validity?
When a measure correlates well with other measures of the same construct.
What is discriminant validity?
When a measure does not correlate strongly with measures of different constructs.
What is a nominal scale?
A categorical measurement without a specific order (e.g., gender, political affiliation).
What is an interval scale?
A scale with equal intervals but no true zero (e.g., IQ scores, temperature in Celsius).
What is a ratio scale?
A scale with equal intervals and a true zero point (e.g., height, weight, income).
zero here actually means an absence of something
Operationalizing variables
how you plan to measure your variables
Any conceptual variable can be operationalized in a
variety of ways
what are the 2 keys to good measurement?
reliability (How consistent your measurements are.) and validity (How accurate you are at measuring your target
construct/variable)
face validity
the extent that a measure seems to measure what it says it does
if someone said they could measure your weight by knowing your favorite color, this would have low face validity, because how could my favorite color individate my weight?
content validity
whether a measure captures all the parts of a variable, as opposed to only some of it
types of measures
** Self-report measures**
* People answer questions about their own behaviors
Observational (Behavioral) measures
* Observe certain behaviors or physical characteristics
Physiological
* Record biological data (brain activity, hormone level, heart rate, skin
conductance)
Cronbach’s alpha
measure of **internal reliability **
this means that items in a measurement, that are supposed to measure the same construct, are consistent
quantitative data
represents phenomenon in numeric format
qualitative data
represents phenomenon in word format
correlation coefficient
indicates the strength and direction of a relationship between 2 continuous variables
codebook
A collection of precise statements about how your variables will be operationalized
