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Part II S igma Freud & Descriptive Statistics. Chapter 6 Just the Truth: An Introduction to Understanding Reliability and Validity. Why Measurement?. What is measurement ? You need to know that the data you are collecting represents what it is you want to know about.
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Part IISigma Freud & Descriptive Statistics Chapter 6 Just the Truth: An Introduction to Understanding Reliability and Validity
Why Measurement? • What is measurement? • You need to know that the data you are collecting represents what it is you want to know about. • How do you know that the instrument you are using to collect data works every time (reliability) and measures what it is supposed to (validity)?
Scales of Measurement • Measurement is the assignment of values to outcomes following a set of rules • There are four types of measurement scales • Nominal • Ordinal • Interval • Ratio
Nominal Level of Measurement • Characteristics of an outcome that fits one and only one category • Mutually exclusive categories such as • Male or Female • Democrat, Republican, or Independent • Categories cannot be ordered meaningfully • Least precise level of measurement
Ordinal Level of Measurement • Characteristics being measured are ordered • Rankings such as #1, #2, #3 • You know that a higher rank is better, but not by how much
Interval Level of Measurement • Test or tool is based on an underlying continuum that allows you to talk about how much higher one score is than another • Intervals along the scale are equal to one another • Example: “Rate your restaurant experience on a scale of 1-7 with 1 = unsatisfactory and 7 = excellent”
Ratio Level of Measurement • Characterized by the presence of absolute zero on the scale • An absence of any of the trait being measured • Examples: • How many kids do you have? (can have 0) • Scores on a test (0 is possible!)
Things to Remember • Any outcome can be assigned one of four scales of measurement • Scales of measures have an order • The “higher” up the scale of measurement, the more precise (and useful) the data are • Use the scale most appropriate for the research task at hand
Classical Test Theory: Os = Ts + E • Observed score • the actual score on a test, scale or measure • True score • theoretical reflection of the actual amount of a trait or characteristic an individual possesses • Error score • part of the score that is random, or the difference between the Observed and True scores Reliability = True Score / (True Score + Error)
Types of Reliability • Test-Retest • Measure of Stability • Parallel Forms • Measure of Equivalence • Internal Consistency • Measure of Consistency • Cronbach’s Alpha (coefficient alpha) • Inter-Rater • Measure of Agreement
Using the Computer • SPSS and Cronbach’s Alpha
How Big is Good Enough? • Reliability coefficients should be positive • 0.0 to 1.0 • General Rules of Thumb… • Test-Retest = .60-1.0 • Inter-Rater = 85% agreement or better • Internal Consistency alpha = .70 – 1.0 High Reliability alone DOES NOT mean you are testing or measuring the right thing!!
Establishing Reliability • Make sure instructions are standardized across all settings • Increase number of items or observations • Delete unclear items • Moderate easiness or difficulty of tests (“middle-of-the-road” strategy) • Minimize the effect of external events
What is the Truth? • Validity • The extent to which inferences made from a test are… • Appropriate • Meaningful • Useful (American Psychological Association & the National Council on Measurement) • Does the test measure what it is supposed to measure?
Types of Validity • Three types of validity: • Content Validity • Criterion Validity • Predictive Criterion validity • Concurrent Criterion validity • Construct Validity
Content Validity • Property of a test such that the test items sample the universe of items for which the test is designed. • How to Establish… • Content Expert • Do items represent all possible items? • How well do the number of items reflect what was taught?
Criterion Validity • Assesses whether a test reflects a set of abilities in a current (concurrent) or future (predictive) setting as measured by some other test. • Concurrent Validity • How well does my test correlate with the outcomes of a similar test right now? • Predictive Validity • How well does my test predict performance on a similar measure in the future?
Construct Validity • Most difficult source of validity to establish • Construct = group of interrelated variables such as... • Aggression • Hope • Intelligence (Verbal, Quantitative, Emotional) • Want your construct to correlate with related behaviors and not correlate with behaviors that are not related.
Validity & Reliability • The “Kissing Cousins” • A test can be reliable but not valid • A test cannot be valid unless it is reliable because… • “A test cannot do what it is supposed to do (validity) until it does what it is supposed to do consistently (reliability).”