Chapter 3: The Measurement of Behavior Continued

1. Chapter 3: The Measurement of Behavior Continued Validity: the extent to which a measure actually measures what it is intended to measure • The truthfulness of a measures. • A test can be reliable and not be valid. Construct validity: The extend to which a measure measures the conceptual variable it is designed to measure. • Related to the adequacy of the operational definition of the variable

2. Convergent validity: the extent to which scores on a measure correlate with scores on a different measure of the same construct. • Does depression measure A correlate with depression measure B? • Discriminant validity: the extent to which scores on a measure do NOT correlate with scores on a measure of a different construct. • Does the depression measure correlate with verbal ability? • Content validity: whether the measure covers the full domain of the conceptual variable. • Does your test measures all the variables that are involved in IQ?

3. Face validity: whether a measure appears to measures a construst • Face validity does not mean measure is valid • measuring skull size appeared to be a good measure of IQ. • If a measure lacks face validity it still may be valid • some personality measures have questions that do not appear to be related to personailty • Sometimes researchers do not want face validity. • Some measures of psychotic behavior may have disguised questions so the participant does not know what it is being measured.

4. Criterion Validity: to extent to which scores on a measure are related to a criterion (an indicator of the construct). • Does the measure allow you to distinguish participants on a behavioral criterion? • The extend to which the measures correlates with a behavioral measures. • Predictive validity: the extent to which a measure correlates with a future behavior. • Does the GRE predict success in grad school? • Concurrent validity: whether a measure correlates with a behavioral measures at the same time.

5. Validity Issues • Reactivity: a measure is reactive if awareness of being measured influences the participant’s behavior and scores. • Test-bias: occurs when a measure is not equally valid for everyone who takes the test. • Difficult to determine because it is hard to detect whether the groups actually do differ on the conceptual variable. • A biased test will have a weaker predictive validity for the group which it is thought to be biased against.

6. Ways to improve validity of measures: • Pilot testing: try out the measure on a small group of participants before the study starts to get an idea of how they react to it and whether it is measuring what it is intended to measure. • Make your items non-reactive • Consider face and content validity by choosing items that seem reasonable and represent a broad range of questions concerning the concept. • Validate your measure against other measures and criterion variables

7. Chapter 4: Approaches to Psychological Measurement Observational Measures • Direct observation of behavior. Make observations of behavior and record them objectively. 1. Naturalistic vs Contrived setting Naturalistic observation: observation of behavior in natural setting with no intrusion of researcher. • Observe everyday behavior and activities • Participant observation: researcher participates in study, usually unknown to the participant.

8. Contrived Setting: observe behavior in a setting designed for the study (e.g. lab) • observe child aggression in playroom in a lab Ecological validity: extent to which research is conducted in situations that are similar to participants’ everyday lives. 2. Disguised vs Nondisguised Observation Undisguised: participants know that a researcher is observing them • Reactivity: participants may act differently if they know they are being watched.

9. Disguised: participants do not know they are being observed. • Informed consent? Usually not needed if watching people in public and the researchers do not intrude on or upset participants. • Partial concealment: participants know they are begin observed, but do not know what the researchers are measuring. • Knowledgeable informants: have someone who knows the participants well (friends, family) observe their behavior.

10. Unobtrusive measures: measures taken without the participant knowing it. • Dyadic interaction paradigm: Observe behavior naturally without participant knowing and then inform them after and ask for their consent. 3. Behavioral Recording • how to record the participants behavior Narratives: record a full description of participant’s behavior. Unstructured. • Video or audio recording • field notes

11. Checklists: Structured. Record behavior by checking off behaviors on a checklist. • Depends on the operational definition of the concept • some behaviors may be difficult to record on a checklist • have to know what you are looking for ahead of time Temporal measures: when behavior occurs (latency) or who long it lasted (duration). • Reaction time: time between stimulus and response.

12. Task completion time: time to complete a task. • Interbehavior latency: time between two behaviors. • Duration: how long a behavior lasted. Observational Rating Scale: measure quality or intensity of behavior. • Scale to measure intensity of laughter

13. Physiological Measures • Measure of neural activity • EEG to measure brain waves • Measure of autonomic nervous system activity • Involuntary responses like heart rate, temperature, and respiration. • Blood analysis • hormones, blood cells • Specific bodily reactions • arousal, blushing.

14. Self-Report: Questionnaires and Interviews • Survey research: ask people to provide information about themselves. • Most widely used method of collecting descriptive information on participants. • Goal is to produce a ‘snapshot’ of the opinions, attitudes, or behaviors of a group of people at a given time. • Allows researcher to gather a lot of information in a short amount of time.

15. Questionnaires: a set of fixed format, self-report items completed by the participant. • Can be administered individually or to a group. • Can be mail-out surveys or internet surveys. Response rate: percent of people who complete and return and questionnaire. • Important to have a high response rate to ensure your results reflect the responses of the entire group (rather than a subset) to ensure your results are generalizabile.

16. Interviews: questions are read to the participant in person or over the phone and the participant responds orally. • Unstructured interview: the interviewer talks freely with the participant about many topics. • Provides in-depth information, but may be subjective. • Structured interview: interviewer uses quantitative fixed-format items. Questions are prepared ahead of time. • allows better comparison across individuals. • Focus group interview: interview a selected groups on individuals at the same time.

17. Pros and Cons of Questionnaires and Interviews: • Questionnaires are cheaper, less time consuming, and require less training than interviews. • Interview bias: interviewers can bias participants’ answers by their facial expressions and intonation. • Questionnaires can produce more honest answers, especially when dealing with sensitive issues. • Questionnaires are inappropriate for those who can not read. • Interviews are better for young children and cognitively impaired or disturbed individuals. • Interviewers can ensure the participants understand the questions

18. Biases in self-report measures Social Desirability: people may respond in the socially desirable manner. • They may be concerned that they may be judged by the researcher for having a particular opinion. • Threats the validity of the measure. • Ensure questions are worded neutrally • Ensure anonymity of responses Response styles • Acquiescence: tendency to agree with statements • Nay-saying: tendency to disagree with statements.

19. Archival Data • Analyze data from existing records • databases, census, magazines, newspapers • Useful for studying psychological phenomena that occurred in the past • changes in family types • Useful for studying behavioral changes over time • Allows the researchers to study phenomena that they cannot conduct a study on • riots, world events.