Question 1

Reginald noticed in his work as a customer service representative that the majority of the rating scales available have at least 5 to 9 response alternatives with:

Accepted Answer

Verbal descriptors are used to provide more information about the response options and to help respondents understand the scale.

Question 2

In order to establish a scale's ______validity researchers need to evaluate the scales convergent and discriminant validity.

Accepted Answer

Construct validity refers to the degree to which a scale measures what it is intended to measure. To establish construct validity researchers need to evaluate convergent and discriminant validity. Convergent validity refers to the extent to which a scale correlates with other measures that theoretically should be related to the construct being measured. Discriminant validity refers to the extent to which a scale does not correlate with measures of other constructs that are conceptually distinct. Therefore, to establish construct validity, researchers need to evaluate both convergent and discriminant validity.

Question 3

Dr. Hughes wants to evaluate the test-retest reliability of the Time 1 and Time 2 administration of his neurocognitive performance measure. The best method of evaluation would be:

Accepted Answer

Correlation is the best method for evaluating the test-retest reliability of the same measure given twice. This is because it measures the degree of association between the scores obtained at Time 1 and Time 2, which indicates the consistency of the measure over time. Experimental design is not relevant for this type of reliability, alternative-forms reliability is for different versions of the same measure, and regression is not appropriate for evaluating reliability.

Question 4

To establish a scale's construct validity researchers need to evaluate the scale's convergent and ______validity.

Accepted Answer

To establish a scale's construct validity, researchers need to evaluate both convergent validity (the degree to which the scale correlates strongly with other measures of the same construct) and discriminant validity (the degree to which the scale does not correlate strongly with measures of unrelated constructs). Content validity refers to whether the items on the scale adequately capture the construct being measured, while internal consistency refers to the reliability of the items within the scale. Face validity refers to whether a scale appears to measure what it is intended to measure, but is not considered a strict requirement for establishing construct validity.

Question 5

In order to establish a scale's construct validity researchers need to evaluate the scale's ______ and discriminant validity.

Accepted Answer

Convergent validity refers to the degree to which the scale is correlated with other measures that theoretically should be related to it. Discriminant validity refers to the degree to which the scale is not related to measures that theoretically should not be related to it. Content validity pertains to the degree to which the scale measures the construct of interest. Face validity pertains to the degree to which the scale appears to measure the construct of interest. Internal consistency pertains to the degree to which the items on the scale are related to each other. While both content and face validity are important considerations when establishing the validity of a scale, they are not directly related to the establishment of construct validity. Therefore, the best choice is C: convergent and discriminant validity.

Question 6

Dr. Adkins noticed that the room was colder during the second administration of a performance task than during the first administration. This is a completely chance event. This would be an example of:

Accepted Answer

A random error refers to an unpredictable and uncontrollable factor that affects the results of an experiment or study. In this case, the temperature difference between the two administrations is a random error since it was not deliberately manipulated or controlled by the researcher. It is not an issue of bias because there is no indication that the researcher favored one group over the other, and it is not an error of central tendency because it does not affect the distribution of scores. It is also not a validity issue because it does not affect the accuracy or relevance of the results.

Question 7

Participant scores can vary between two administrations of a measurements because of ______ and not be a reflection of the scale itself.

Accepted Answer

Random error refers to the natural variation and inconsistency that can occur in a measurement, which can cause scores to differ between two administrations even if the scale itself is valid and reliable. Bias refers to systematic errors that consistently affect scores in a particular direction, validity issues refer to problems with whether the scale is measuring what it is intended to measure, and error of central tendency refers to the tendency for scores to cluster around the mean, which can affect the interpretation of results but does not necessarily cause score variation between administrations.

Question 8

Dr. Fowler noticed that the participants seemed to be more aware of the questions and tasks of the performance measure during the second administration. She believes this may have affected their scores in a systematic way. This would be an example of:

Accepted Answer

The participants' increased awareness of the questions and tasks could lead to bias in their responses, affecting the validity of the measurement.

Question 9

Winona is interested in whether the purpose of a scale developed to measure parental discipline practices is known to participants while completing the measure. She wants to know if the scale appears to measure what the participants believe it to measure. This is an example of:

Accepted Answer

This is an example of face validity, which refers to whether a measure appears to measure what it is intended to measure based on participants' perceptions.

Question 10

Reverse-coding is a scoring strategy where more negative response alternatives are assigned ______ values and more positive response alternatives are assigned ______ values.

Accepted Answer

Reverse-coding is used to ensure that higher scores always reflect a more positive response, regardless of the question's phrasing. Thus, more negative responses are assigned higher values, and more positive responses are assigned lower values to maintain consistency in the direction of scoring.

Question 11

Dante used a public scale for an experiment in his sociology class to examine satisfaction with community resources. Dante realized that some of the questions are written inversely. He is trying to determine a way to sum participants' responses on the scale so that a higher number accurately reflects a higher degree of satisfaction with community resources. Dante should use:

Accepted Answer

Reverse-coding is the technique used to correct items written inversely. This involves reversing the scale score for questions that have a negative tone or are phrased inversely. By using reverse-coding, a higher number accurately reflects a higher degree of satisfaction with community resources.

Question 12

Marcus made a very poignant statement at a recent meeting. He said, "An unreliable scale cannot be _____"

Accepted Answer

An unreliable scale cannot be considered valid. Validity is the measurement of whether a scale measures what it's supposed to measure, and if the scale is unreliable, it is not accurately measuring what it's supposed to measure.

Question 13

______ is the best method of evaluation for test-retest reliability.

Accepted Answer

Correlation is the best method of evaluation for test-retest reliability because it measures the degree of association between two sets of scores from the same individuals at two different points in time. This method is particularly appropriate when the data is continuous and measured on an interval or ratio scale.

Question 14

Dr. Kruze gave his physics class an exam last week. Many of his students complain that the exam did not test them on any of the material they learned in lecture. The students are suggesting the exam had poor:

Accepted Answer

Content validity refers to the extent to which a test measures the material it is intended to measure. If the students feel that the exam did not test them on the material they learned in lecture, then the exam lacks content validity. Face validity refers to the extent to which a test appears to measure what it is intended to measure, but this is not relevant to the students' complaint. Construct validity refers to the extent to which a test measures the theoretical construct it is intended to measure, which is not mentioned in the scenario. Convergent validity refers to the degree to which the results of one test correlate with the results of other tests designed to measure the same or similar constructs, which is also not relevant to the scenario.

Question 15

Asking participants to complete two different versions of a scale is an effort to evaluate a scale's:

Accepted Answer

Asking participants to complete two different versions of a scale is an effort to evaluate a scale's alternative-form reliability, which assesses the consistency of scores across different forms or versions of the same test. Internal consistency reliability refers to the consistency of items within the same test, content validity refers to how well a test measures the construct it claims to measure, and test-retest reliability assesses the consistency of scores over time when the same test is administered at two different occasions.

Question 16

Dr. Clark gave his astronomy students an exam today and was pleased to hear that the students thought the exam was fair and covered a broad range of the lecture material from the past several weeks. This suggests that the students believed the exam had:

Accepted Answer

The fact that the students thought the exam was fair and covered a broad range of lecture material suggests that the exam had high content validity, meaning that it accurately assesses the learning objectives and content covered in the course.

Question 17

Hillary is interested in a high degree of connectedness between the items on her scale of childhood anxiety. She is most interested in:

Accepted Answer

Internal consistency reliability deals with the degree to which the items on a scale or test are related to each other or measure the same construct. In this case, Hillary is interested in a high degree of connectedness between the items on her scale of childhood anxiety, which is related to internal consistency reliability.

Question 18

If two scales are purported to measure trait anxiety then both scales should be:

Accepted Answer

If both scales are measuring the same construct (trait anxiety), then they should have a high correlation with each other. This indicates that they are measuring the same thing consistently, which gives us more confidence in the validity of both scales. If they were not correlated, it would suggest that they are measuring different things or that one of the scales is invalid. If they were poorly correlated, it could suggest that there is some overlap in what they measure, but they may not be measuring the same thing with consistency.

Question 19

Measures with strong face validity encounter several limitations including all of the following, EXCEPT:

Accepted Answer

Measures with strong face validity are often subjective and may be influenced by social desirability bias and demand characteristics. However, they are not limited by objectivity but rather may lack it.

Question 20

Dr. Toya noted that her PTSD scale correlated highly with scales of similar variables and was uncorrelated with theoretically incompatible variables. This would suggest that Dr. Toya's PTSD scale shows a:

Accepted Answer

Dr. Toya's PTSD scale showing a high correlation with scales of similar variables and being uncorrelated with theoretically incompatible variables suggests a high degree of construct validity, meaning that it is measuring what it is intended to measure.

Quiz 7: Survey Design and Scale Construction: Is Going Greek a Great Idea