PART1- “OBSERVATIONAL TECHNIQUES” Read the “Test Yourself” section on p. 147 in Ch. 6 of Exploring Research.

Discuss your response with your classmates. However, an initial post is required.

Students need to contribute two substantive posts in this discussion by the due date indicated. The substantive posts can be any combination of responses and replies. However, an initial post is required.

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PART2- “ACHIEVEMENT TEST”  Read the “Test Yourself” section on p. 142 in Ch. 6 of Exploring Research.

Discuss your response with your classmates.

PART3-   “ONLINE LITERATURE REVIEW”

Read the “Test Yourself” section on p. 70 in Ch. 3A of Exploring Research.

Discuss your response with the class.

PART4- “HISTORY OF MODERN PSYCHOLOGY CHAPTER 6 & 7” 

 

Read Chapters 6 & 7 in the History of Psychology Textbook and comment on at least 1 piece of history that interested you. Respond to one or more of the following prompts in one to two paragraphs:

Respond to one or more of the following prompts in one to two paragraphs:

1.      Provide citation and reference to the chapter you discuss. Describe what you found interesting regarding this topic, and why.

2.      Describe what you found interesting regarding this topic, and why.

3.      Describe how you will apply that learning in your daily life, including your work life.

4.      Describe what may be unclear to you, and what you would like to learn.

Chapter 6 Methods of Measuring Behavior

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT IN THIS CHAPTER:

· • The use of different methods of measuring behavior and collecting data

· • What a test is

· • How different types of tests are designed to assess different types of behavior

· • The use of achievement tests in the behavioral and social sciences

· • The design of multiple-choice items

· • How to do an item analysis

· • The application of attitude scales

· • The difference between Thurstone and Likert attitude scales

In  Chapter 5 , you got a healthy dose of the theoretical issues that provide the foundation for the science of measurement, why measurement is crucial to the research process, how reliability and validity are defined, and how each of these can be established.

In this chapter, you will begin learning about the application of some of these principles as you read about different methods that can be used to measure behavior, including the ubiquitous test, the questionnaire, the interview, and other techniques.

As you read this chapter, keep several things in mind. Your foremost concern in deciding what method you will use to measure the behavior of interest should be whether the tool you intend to use is a reliable and valid one. This is equally true for the best-designed test and for the most informal-appearing interview. If your test does not “work,” then virtually nothing else will.

Second, the way in which you ask your question will determine the way in which you go about measuring the variables that interest you. If you want to know about how people feel toward a particular issue, then you are talking about attitudinal scales. If you want to know how much information people have about a particular subject, then you are talking about an achievement test or some other measure of knowledge. The focus of a study (such as the effects of unemployment on self-esteem) might be the same, whether you measure attitude or achievement, but what you use to assess your outcome variable depends on the question you ask. You need to decide the intent of your research activity, which in turn reflects your original research question and hypothesis.

Third, really efficient researchers are fully onboard for using whatever method helps them answer the questions that are being asked. This might include a mixed-methods model where one aspect of a research program might include qualitative methods while another might include qualitative methods (see  Chapter 10 ). As research questions and their associated hypotheses become more intricate and complex, the creative side of using a particular research method correctly becomes more important.

Finally, keep in mind that methods vary widely in the time it takes to learn how to use them, in the measurement process itself, and in what you can do with the information once you have collected it. For example, an interview might be appropriate to determine how teachers feel about changes in the school administration, but interviewing would not be very useful if you were interested in assessing physical strength.

So, here is an overview of a variety of measurement tools. Like any other tool, use the one you choose well and you will be handsomely rewarded. Likewise, if you use the tool incorrectly, the job may not get done at all, and even if it does, the quality and value of your finished report will be less than what you expected.

The way in which you ask your research question will determine the method you use to assess the variables you are studying.

What better place to start than with the measurement method that all of us have been exposed to time and again: the good ol’ test?

Tests and Their Development

In the most general terms, the purpose of a test is to measure the nature and the extent of individual differences. For example, you might want to assess teenagers’ knowledge of how AIDS is transmitted. Or you may be interested in differences that exist on some measure of personality such as the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator or an intelligence test such as the Wechsler Intelligence Scales. Tests also are instruments that distinguish among people on such measures as reaction time, physical strength, agility, or the strategy someone selects to solve a problem. Not all tests use paper and pencil, and as we just mentioned, the technique that a researcher uses to assess a behavior often reflects that researcher’s creativity.

A good test should be able to differentiate people from one another reliably based on their true scores. Before continuing, here are just a few words of clarification. The word “test” is being used throughout this chapter to indicate a tool or technique to assess behavior but should not be used synonymously with the term “dependent variable.” Although you may use a test to assess some outcome, you may also use it for categorization or classification purposes. For example, if you want to investigate the effectiveness of two treatments (behavior therapy and medication, for example) on obsessive-compulsive disorders, you would first use the results of a test to categorize subjects into severe or mild categories and then use another assessment to evaluate the effectiveness of each treatment.

Why Use Tests?

Tests are highly popular in the assessment of social and behavioral outcomes because they serve a very specific purpose. They yield a score that reflects performance on some variable (such as intelligence, affection, emotional involvement, and activity level), and they can fill a variety of the researcher’s needs (summarized in  Table 6.1 ).

First and foremost, tests help researchers determine the outcome of an experiment. Quite simply, tests are the measuring stick by which the effectiveness of a treatment is judged or the status of a variable such as height or voting preference in a sample is assessed. Because test results help us determine the value of an experiment, they can also be used to help us build and test hypotheses.

Second, tests can be used as diagnostic and screening tools, where they provide insight into an individual’s strengths and weaknesses. For example, the Denver Developmental Screening Test (DDST) assesses young children’s language, social, physical, and personal development. Although the DDST is a general screening test at best, it does provide important information about a child’s developmental status and areas that might need attention.

Third, tests assist in placement. For example, children who missed the date for kindergarten entrance in their school district could take a battery of tests to determine whether they have the skills and maturity to enter public school early. High school students often take advanced placement courses and then “test out” of basic required college courses. In these two cases, test scores assist when a recommendation is made as to where someone should be placed in a program.

Fourth, tests assist in selection. Who will get into graduate school is determined, at least in part, by an applicant’s score on tests such as the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or the Miller’s Analogy Test (MAT). Businesses often conduct tests to screen individuals before they are hired to ensure that they have the basic skills necessary to complete training and perform competently.

Table 6.1 What tests do and how they do it

What Tests Do	How Tests Do It	Examples
Help researchers determine the outcome of a study	Tests are used as dependent variables	A researcher wants to know which of two training programs is more effective
Provide diagnostic and screening information	Tests are usually administered at the beginning of a program to get some idea of the participant’s status	A teacher needs to know what type of reading program in which a particular child should be placed
Help in the placement process	Tests are used to place people in different settings based on specified characteristics	A mental health worker needs to place a client into a drug rehabilitation program
Assist in selection	Tests are used to distinguish between people who are admitted to certain programs	A graduate school committee uses test scores to make decisions about admitting undergraduates
Help evaluate outcomes	Tests are used to determine whether the goals of a program were met	A school superintendent uses a survey to measure whether the in-service programs had an impact on teachers’ attitudes

Finally, tests are used to evaluate the outcomes of a program. Until you collect information that relates to the question you asked and then act on that information, you never really know whether the program you are assessing had, for example, the impact you sought. If you are interested in evaluating the effectiveness of a training program on returning war veterans, it is unlikely that you can judge the program’s efficacy without conducting some type of formal evaluation.

However, whether you use a test for selection or evaluation, it is not the test score that is in and of itself important, but rather the interpretation of that score. A score of 10 on an exam wherein all the items are simple is much different than a score of 10 where everyone else in the group received scores between 3 and 5.

Learning to design, create, administer, and score any test is important, but it is very important—and almost essential—to be able to know how to interpret that score.

What Tests Look Like

You may be most familiar with achievement-type tests, which often include multiple-choice items such as the following:

The cube root of 8 is

· a. 2

· b. 4

· c. 6

· d. 8

Multiple-choice questions are common items on many of the tests you will take throughout your college career. But tests can take on a variety of appearances, especially when you have to meet the needs of the people being tested and to sample the behavior you are interested in learning more about.

For example, you would not expect people with a severe visual impairment to take a pencil-and-paper test requiring them to darken small, closely placed circles. Similarly, if you want to know about children’s social interactions with their peers, you would probably be better served by observing them at play than by asking them about playing.

With such considerations in mind, you need to decide on the form a test might take. Some of the questions that will arise in deciding how a test should appear and be administered are as follows:

· • Is the test administered using paper and pencil, or is it administered some other way?

· • What is the nature of the behavior being assessed (cognitive, social, physical)?

· • Do people report their own behavior (self-report), or is their behavior observed?

· • Is the test timed, or is there no time limit?

· • Are the responses to the items subjective in nature (where the scoring is somewhat arbitrary) or objective (where there are clearly defined rules for scoring)?

· • Is the test given in a group or individually?

· • Are the test takers required to recognize the correct response (such as in a multiple-choice test) or to provide one (such as in a fill-in item or an open-ended question)?

TEST YOURSELF

Why test? Provide at least two reasons and an example of each.