Question 1

If a test is valid, the scores predict other kinds of performance that we care about. For example,

Accepted Answer

Validity means that a test measures what it's supposed to measure. Therefore, scores on an IQ test should predict success in school, as IQ tests are designed to measure intellectual abilities that are important for academic success. Option A is not a valid prediction since IQ test scores are not designed to measure relationship skills. Option B is not valid since personality inventories are not designed to measure academic performance. Option D is not valid since personality tests are not designed to measure job performance.

Question 2

The reliability of a psychological test is practically the same thing as its

Accepted Answer

Reliability refers to the consistency of a test and its ability to produce similar results over time. Repeatability is a measure of reliability because it assesses whether the test produces consistent results when administered multiple times to the same individual or group. Regression, validity, and standardization are important components of psychological testing, but they do not directly relate to the reliability of a test.

Question 3

If a test has high content validity, then

Accepted Answer

High content validity means that the test accurately measures the content it is intended to measure. Therefore, its questions fairly represent the material the test is supposed to cover.

Question 4

A psychologist who gives a group of people the same test several times is probably trying to measure the __________ of the test.

Accepted Answer

Reliability refers to the consistency of results obtained from the same test over time, across different observers, or when the test is administered in different ways. By giving the same test to a group of people multiple times, the psychologist is checking the reliability of the test. Validity refers to whether the test measures what it is supposed to measure, standard deviation is a measure of variability, and utility refers to the usefulness of the test.

Question 5

Suppose we measure the mean performance of healthy people of three generations on the Raven Progressive Matrices, reporting the absolute number of correct answers. What will we find?

Accepted Answer

The Flynn Effect suggests that average IQ scores have been increasing over the years, which means that younger generations tend to score higher on tests like the Raven Progressive Matrices. Therefore, it is likely that the youngest generation will score highest.

Question 6

If the questions on a given test accurately represent the information the test is supposed to cover, then we can say that the test has high

Accepted Answer

Content validity refers to whether the questions on a test accurately assess the content or knowledge that the test is intended to measure. Predictive validity refers to whether the test can accurately predict future performance or outcomes, while concurrent validity refers to whether the test correlates with other measures of the same construct at the same time. Utility refers to the usefulness or practicality of the test. Therefore, only option C is correct in this scenario.

Question 7

The reliability of most IQ tests is .90 or higher. This means that the tests

Accepted Answer

The reliability score of .90 or higher indicates that the tests are consistent in their measurements over time, meaning they measure something in a repeatable manner. It does not necessarily indicate what they measure (intelligence or otherwise), the percentage of a person's capacity measured, or anything about the standard deviation relative to the mean.

Question 8

If psychologists administer a new IQ test to 1,000 randomly chosen students just once, they are probably trying to __________. If they administer the test twice to each student and compare the results, they are probably trying to __________.

Accepted Answer

Administering a test to a large group once is part of the standardization process, which involves establishing norms and procedures. Administering it twice and comparing results is a method to assess the test's reliability, which refers to the consistency of the test results over time.

Question 9

A professor gives the same test twice. Most of those who failed it the first time get scores close to the class average the second time. Most of those who did very well the first time also get scores close to average the second time. Therefore the test has

Accepted Answer

The results suggest that the test has low reliability because the scores of the same students vary significantly between the two tests. The fact that students who did poorly the first time came closer to the class average the second time and vice versa suggests that there may be measurement error or other factors that are affecting the results. Validity cannot be determined based on the given information.

Question 10

To determine whether the test you are taking right now has high content validity, an investigator could find out whether

Accepted Answer

Content validity refers to how well a test measures what it is intended to measure, in this case, the content covered in a course section. Therefore, the best way to determine content validity is by checking if the content of the test matches the main concepts covered in the section. Option A measures predictive validity, option C measures test-retest reliability, and option D does not relate to validity.

Question 11

A new psychological test has a reliability of zero. This means that

Accepted Answer

Reliability refers to the consistency of a test's scores over time. A reliability coefficient of zero means that scores fluctuate randomly from one time to another, indicating a lack of consistency or stability in the test's measurements. As a result, it is impossible to use the scores on this test to make accurate predictions of any behavior outside the test, and scores are unlikely to be normally distributed. While it is possible for individuals to score worse the second time they take the test compared to the first time, this is not necessarily true for everyone and is not the defining characteristic of a test with a reliability of zero.

Question 12

Suppose people take a given IQ test twice. Those who got the highest scores the first time get scores much closer to the class average the second time. The test must have

Accepted Answer

This phenomenon is known as regression toward the mean, which indicates that the test may not consistently produce similar results for individuals over multiple administrations, suggesting low reliability.

Question 13

Julia takes a new psychological test several times and gets the same score every time she takes it. Other people also find that whatever their first score is, they continue to get that same score every time they take the test. We can conclude that this test has

Accepted Answer

The fact that individuals consistently receive the same score over multiple administrations of the test indicates that the test has high reliability, meaning it produces consistent and dependable results. Validity, on the other hand, refers to the extent to which a test actually measures what it claims to measure. We cannot determine the validity of the test based solely on the information given. Utility refers to the usefulness or practicality of the test, and again, we cannot determine this based on the information given.

Question 14

A test claims to measure intelligence. How could you measure the reliability of the test?

Accepted Answer

The best way to measure the reliability of a test is to give the test repeatedly and see whether each person's scores are consistent. This is known as test-retest reliability. If the scores are consistent over time, then the test is considered to be reliable. The other options might be important considerations for the validity of a test, but they do not directly measure its reliability.

Question 15

A new test determines your score by dividing your telephone number into your social security number, and then multiplying by 100. This test probably has

Accepted Answer

This test would likely have high reliability because if you take the same person's telephone number and social security number, the calculation will produce the same result every time. However, it has low validity because dividing a telephone number by a social security number and multiplying by 100 has no logical connection to measuring any meaningful trait or ability.

Question 16

Flynn argues that we have seen an increase in IQ scores

Accepted Answer

Flynn argues that the increase in IQ scores is not due to an increase in intelligence but rather due to better education, test-taking skills, and cultural changes.

Question 17

A new personality test claims to measure how much two people love each other. How could you measure the reliability of the test?

Accepted Answer

The best way to measure the reliability of a personality test is to test it repeatedly and see if couples consistently get the same score over time. This would establish the test's consistency (reliability) in measuring the same construct (love) over and over again. Option B would measure predictive validity (the ability to predict future outcomes), Option C would measure descriptive statistics, and Option D would measure content validity (whether the items on the test accurately capture the intended construct). However, none of these options directly measure the reliability of the test itself.

Question 18

If a test has high reliability,

Accepted Answer

High reliability means that the test yields consistent results over time. Therefore, individuals who do well on the test one day are more likely to do well on the test another day, indicating that the test is reliable in its ability to measure individual differences in the construct being assessed. However, high reliability does not necessarily mean that the test is measuring what it claims to measure (validity), nor does it imply a positive correlation with performance in a different situation.

Question 19

In order to measure the reliability of a test, an investigator determines

Accepted Answer

The best way to measure the reliability of a test is through determining whether the people who score high on the test one time will also score high the next time they take the test. This is known as test-retest reliability and it indicates the consistency of scores over time. Options A, B, and C are not necessarily measures of reliability, although they are important considerations in test development and evaluation.

Question 20

The general part of the SAT is highly correlated with the SAT achievement tests. For that reason,

Accepted Answer

Since the general part of the SAT is highly correlated with the SAT achievement tests, requiring both would not significantly add to the predictive value of the scores for academic success, making it redundant to require both.

Quiz 9: Intelligence