Deck 5: Psychological Measurement

Question 1

There is a single best conceptual definition of every psychological construct.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Psychological measures should have as few items as possible.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Psychologists assume their measures are accurate but cannot demonstrate that they are.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

A psychological measure is valid to the extent that the scores it produces are consistent over time.

Question 5

Psychological constructs can be observed directly by looking or listening.

Question 6

The split-half correlation is a measure of internal consistency.

Question 7

"Psychometrics" is another name for psychological measurement.

Question 8

The first step in measuring a construct is conceptually defining it.

Question 9

A Cronbach's alpha of .90 would indicate good internal consistency.

Question 10

Researchers should create their own measures whenever possible.

Question 11

The Big Five are a set of personality dimensions that describe human personality.

Question 12

Intelligence is measured at the ratio level.

Question 13

Measurement is best defined as which of the following?

A) directly comparing one individual to a standard reference individual
B) the assignment of scores to individuals so the scores represent some characteristic of the individuals
C) the use of an established measuring instrument such as a ruler or scale to describe an individual
D) an objective method of counting individuals

Question 14

Face validity is the extent to which a psychological measure appears to measure the construct of interest.

Question 15

"Reactivity" refers to participants' reactions to being measured.

Question 16

The variable sex (male vs. female) is measured at the nominal level.

Question 17

A psychological measure is reliable to the extent that it is consistent.

Question 18

There is a single best way to measure every psychological construct.

Question 19

"Behavioral measure" is another name for any psychological measure.

Question 20

A test-retest correlation of +.50 is generally considered good.

Question 21

A low test-retest correlation would probably not be a concern for a measure of which of the following?

A) mood
B) intelligence
C) extroversion
D) conscientiousness

Question 22

The Stroop color naming task has been adapted to measure which of the following?

A) autism
B) color blindness
C) social anxiety
D) paranoia

Question 23

Imagine that a research methods instructor accidentally includes concepts on an exam that he did not actually cover in the course. This is a problem with which of the following?

A) the exam's face validity
B) the exam's discriminant validity
C) the exam's criterion validity
D) the exam's content validity

Question 24

How do the reliability and validity of a measure differ from each other? Is it possible for a measure to be reliable but not valid? If so, how? Is it possible for a measure to be valid but not reliable? How?

Question 25

Working memory capacity can be measured by doing which of the following?

A) scanning people's frontal lobes
B) having people repeat back a string of digits
C) asking people about their earliest childhood memories
D) all of the above

Question 26

Which of the following is true of the measurement of stress?

A) Stress cannot be measured because it is not directly observable.
B) Physiological measures provide the best indicator of stress.
C) There are many useful measures of stress.
D) Existing measures of stress are too flawed to be of much use.

Question 27

Features of a study that indicate to participants how they "ought" to behave are called _____.

A) demand characteristics
B) behavioral cues
C) hidden commands
D) expectancy effects

Question 28

After using any psychological measure, it is always good practice to do which of the following?

A) write a thank you note to the creator of the measure
B) evaluate its reliability and validity based on the new data
C) publish the results in the Mental Measurements Yearbook
D) discuss participants' responses with them

Question 29

Which of the following is another name for psychological measurement?

A) intelligence testing
B) mental examination
C) quantitative psychology
D) psychometrics

Question 30

What do psychological researchers mean by "converging operations?" Give a hypothetical example.

Question 31

Which of the following variables is measured at the ratio level?

A) number of siblings
B) intelligence
C) religion
D) self-esteem

Question 32

Imagine that you create a new measure of indecisiveness. Describe a study you could do to provide evidence for its criterion validity.

Question 33

Internal consistency is not relevant for which of the following measures?

A) the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale
B) a rating of one's happiness on a 1-to-10 scale
C) the Beck Depression Inventory
D) a standard intelligence test

Question 34

Which of the following is generally true of measures created for use in scientific research?

A) They can be used without permission.
B) They are described in a published article.
C) They should be properly referenced in any published work.
D) all of the above

Question 35

Which of the following is the best example of a construct?

A) depression
B) number of siblings
C) height
D) annual income

Question 36

In the context of psychological measurement, what is reactivity? Illustrate your general definition with a concrete example.

Question 37

What is it called when a researcher measures the same construct in different ways?

A) multiple measurement
B) exploratory research
C) inconsistent assessment
D) converging operations

Question 38

Give two distinct operational definitions for the construct aggression. Be as specific as you can.

Question 39

Cronbach's alpha can be interpreted as which of the following?

A) the mean of all possible test-retest correlations
B) the mean of all possible split-half correlations
C) the mean of all possible inter-rater correlations
D) none of the above

Question 40

Which of the following is a common measure of internal consistency?

A) test-retest correlation
B) split-half correlation
C) Cohen's d
D) Cronbach's alpha