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a psychological construct differ from directly observable physical...
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a psychological construct differ from directly observable physical...
Chapter 5 Flashcards
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1
Question
How does a psychological construct differ from directly observable physical variables?
Answer
A construct is an underlying phenomenon of interest that cannot be measured directly (such as self-esteem or depression), whereas physical variables (like height or weight) can be directly and objectively measured using standard physical instruments.
2
Question
What is the primary role of an operational definition in quantitative research?
Answer
An operational definition provides a guiding description of a phenomenon, establishing a clear framework so that specific assessment instruments and items can be theoretically tied to and evaluate the construct.
3
Question
How do discrete variables differ from continuous variables in quantitative measurement?
Answer
Discrete variables are categorical in nature and use distinct levels or categories (such as biological sex or ethnicity). Continuous variables represent scores or values along an unbroken continuum (such as scores on an assessment inventory).
4
Question
What mathematical operations are permitted on data measured strictly on a nominal scale?
Answer
No mathematical operations may be performed on nominal variables; numbers assigned to nominal levels serve strictly as qualitative category identifiers or classifications.
5
Question
What defining limitation characterizes variables measured on an ordinal scale?
Answer
Ordinal variables represent an ordered sequence of ranks, but the exact magnitude or distance between successive values remains unspecified and unequal.
6
Question
Why are Likert-type scales frequently treated as quasi-interval scales in counseling research?
Answer
Likert scales are technically ordinal because subjective differences lack an objective metric. Researchers treat subjective variability as definite and equidistant to allow continuous mathematical operations.
7
Question
What fundamental property distinguishes a ratio scale from an interval scale?
Answer
A ratio scale possesses a true, absolute zero indicating the complete absence of the measured phenomenon, whereas an interval scale lacks a true zero point.
8
Question
Why can naturally occurring continuous variables be converted downward to ordinal scales, but not vice versa?
Answer
Continuous variables contain fine-grained quantitative precision that can be grouped into ordered categorical brackets. Lower-level categories lack the granular numeric information needed to reconstruct higher-level continuous data.
9
Question
What is the technical definition of test validity established by AERA et al. (2014)?
Answer
Validity refers to the degree to which evidence and theory support the interpretations of test scores entailed by proposed uses of the test.
10
Question
What are the five sources of validity evidence outlined in the testing standards?
Answer
The five sources are evidence based on test content, evidence based on response processes, evidence based on internal structure, evidence based on relationships to other variables, and evidence based on consequences of testing.
11
Question
How is validity evidence based on test content typically established in instrument development?
Answer
Content validity evidence is established through systematic documentation of an extensive literature review and expert panel review to ensure items align with construct theory.
12
Question
What does validity evidence based on internal structure evaluate within a psychological measure?
Answer
It evaluates the psychometric properties of the instrument, ensuring items correlate adequately to measure the common construct (factor loadings ≥ .40) without being overly redundant.
13
Question
What standard factor loading threshold indicates that an item sufficiently measures an intended construct?
Answer
As a standard rule of thumb, item factor loadings should be approximately .40 or higher.
14
Question
How is validity evidence based on relationships to other variables demonstrated?
Answer
It is demonstrated through correlational research showing that scores on the instrument correlate meaningfully with scores from other validated instruments measuring similar or related constructs.
15
Question
What does validity evidence based on consequences of testing address?
Answer
It examines and documents both the intended and unintended effects, societal ramifications, and outcomes resulting from test administration, scoring, and score interpretation.
16
Question
What are the standard benchmark thresholds for interpreting score reliability coefficients?
Answer
A coefficient of .70 indicates adequate consistency, .80 indicates good consistency, and .90 or higher indicates very good score consistency.
17
Question
Why is it technically incorrect to state that a measurement scale itself is reliable?
Answer
Reliability is a property of the scores obtained from a specific sample in a given study, not an inherent invariant attribute of the test or scale itself.
18
Question
What purpose do confidence intervals serve when reporting reliability estimates?
Answer
Confidence intervals provide a bounded range for reliability estimates, indicating the likely precision of the coefficient if data collection were replicated on a similar sample.
19
Question
What are the three primary reasons descriptive statistics are reported in research studies?
Answer
They describe sample characteristics to evaluate generalizability, provide baseline measurement information to establish relationships between variables, and supply parameter values necessary for study replication.
20
Question
How do measures of central tendency behave in a perfectly normal distribution?
Answer
In a normal distribution, the mean, median, and mode are all equal and fall at the exact center of the distribution curve.
21
Question
What is the mathematical relationship between the standard deviation and the variance?
Answer
Variance is the squared value of the standard deviation; conversely, the standard deviation is the square root of the variance.
22
Question
According to the 68-95-99 rule, what percentage of scores falls within ±1, ±2, and ±3 standard deviations of the mean?
Answer
Approximately 68% of scores fall within ±1 SD, approximately 95% fall within ±2 SD, and approximately 99% fall within ±3 SD.
23
Question
What exact percentage of scores lies between the mean and +1 standard deviation in a normal distribution?
Answer
Exactly 34.00% of the distribution lies between the mean and +1 standard deviation.
24
Question
What formula is used to compute a standard z-score from a raw score?
Answer
The formula is \(z = \frac{X - \bar{X}}{\sigma}\), where \(X\) is the individual raw score, \(\bar{X}\) is the group mean, and \(\sigma\) is the standard deviation.
25
Question
What are the standardized mean and standard deviation parameters of a T-score distribution?
Answer
A T-score distribution has a standardized mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10.
26
Question
What are the standardized mean and standard deviation parameters for standard intelligence tests?
Answer
Standard intelligence tests use a standardized mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15.
27
Question
What percentile rank corresponds to a score that is 2 standard deviations below the mean (-2 SD)?
Answer
A score of -2 SD corresponds approximately to the 2.5th percentile (or lowest 2.5% of the distribution).
28
Question
What percentile ranks correspond to scores at -1 SD, the mean, and +1 SD on a standardized test?
Answer
A score at -1 SD corresponds to the 16th percentile, the mean corresponds to the 50th percentile, and +1 SD corresponds to the 84th percentile.
29
Question
Why is the lower bound of a 95% confidence interval truncated at 0 for inventories like the BDI-II?
Answer
The lower bound is set to 0 because the assessment instrument has a possible range of 0 to 63. Negative scores cannot theoretically or practically exist on the inventory.
30
Question
What do the sign and numerical magnitude of a Pearson correlation coefficient indicate?
Answer
The plus or minus sign indicates the direction of the relationship (positive or inverse). The numerical value (ranging from -1 to +1) indicates the strength or magnitude of the relationship.