David L. Streiner and Geoffrey R. Norman
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199231881
- eISBN:
- 9780191724015
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199231881.003.0001
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health, Epidemiology
This introductory chapter presents the rationale for developing scales, and why they must be reliable and valid. It also gives a general overview of the organization of the book as a whole.
This introductory chapter presents the rationale for developing scales, and why they must be reliable and valid. It also gives a general overview of the organization of the book as a whole.
Neil Abell, David W. Springer, and Akihito Kamata
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195333367
- eISBN:
- 9780199864300
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195333367.003.0001
- Subject:
- Social Work, Research and Evaluation
This introductory chapter overviews the history of construct conceptualization and measurement, emphasizing events and debates in social work illustrating broader trends in the social and behavioral ...
More
This introductory chapter overviews the history of construct conceptualization and measurement, emphasizing events and debates in social work illustrating broader trends in the social and behavioral sciences. Key actors are identified, and their contributions to the framing of social problems, shaping of psychometric methods, and the interpretation and application of scales, tests, and indexes are summarized. The importance of carefully considering the social consequences and implications of construct definitions is introduced, with emphasis on the nature and scope of the target problem and attention to who will use the new measure, with whom, and for what purposes. The influence of evidence-based practice is discussed, and an overview of subsequent chapter objectives is provided.Less
This introductory chapter overviews the history of construct conceptualization and measurement, emphasizing events and debates in social work illustrating broader trends in the social and behavioral sciences. Key actors are identified, and their contributions to the framing of social problems, shaping of psychometric methods, and the interpretation and application of scales, tests, and indexes are summarized. The importance of carefully considering the social consequences and implications of construct definitions is introduced, with emphasis on the nature and scope of the target problem and attention to who will use the new measure, with whom, and for what purposes. The influence of evidence-based practice is discussed, and an overview of subsequent chapter objectives is provided.
Tony Tripodi and Miriam Potocky-Tripodi
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195187250
- eISBN:
- 9780199864850
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195187250.003.0005
- Subject:
- Social Work, Research and Evaluation
This chapter presents examples of intranational research as defined in Chapter 4. Five studies are described. The studies include research pertaining to immigrants and refugees from Korea, Iraq, ...
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This chapter presents examples of intranational research as defined in Chapter 4. Five studies are described. The studies include research pertaining to immigrants and refugees from Korea, Iraq, Ethiopia, Vietnam, and Nicaragua. Reasons for classifying the research as intranational are provided. Issues pertaining to the conduct and utilization of intranational research are discussed, including experimental group equivalence, attrition, psychometrics, field research, group and individual interviewing, response bias, reporting of limitations, hypothesis testing, validity, and the incorporation of qualitative research in quantitative studies.Less
This chapter presents examples of intranational research as defined in Chapter 4. Five studies are described. The studies include research pertaining to immigrants and refugees from Korea, Iraq, Ethiopia, Vietnam, and Nicaragua. Reasons for classifying the research as intranational are provided. Issues pertaining to the conduct and utilization of intranational research are discussed, including experimental group equivalence, attrition, psychometrics, field research, group and individual interviewing, response bias, reporting of limitations, hypothesis testing, validity, and the incorporation of qualitative research in quantitative studies.
David L. Streiner and Geoffrey R. Norman
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199231881
- eISBN:
- 9780191724015
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199231881.001.0001
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health, Epidemiology
This book covers in detail how to develop a measurement scale: a questionnaire or instrument, with specific applications in health sciences. Its organization follows the steps developers will go ...
More
This book covers in detail how to develop a measurement scale: a questionnaire or instrument, with specific applications in health sciences. Its organization follows the steps developers will go through during the process beginning with how the individual items are developed, and the various biases that can affect responses (e.g., social desirability, yea-saying, framing). It then discusses different response options, such as Likert scales, adjectival scales, visual analogue scales, Harter scales, and face scales, and the advantages and disadvantages of each. The book then explains how to select the best items in the set, using various psychometric criteria; and how to combine the individual items into a scale. There is much discussion of reliability and validity, from both a theoretical and statistical perspective, with a separate chapter on generalizability theory. Although the perspective is that of classical test theory, there is also an in-depth presentation of item response theory. It concludes with a discussion of ethical issues that may be encountered in developing and using scales; and presents guidelines for reporting the results of the scale development process. In the appendices there is a comprehensive guide to finding existing scales, and a brief introduction to exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis.Less
This book covers in detail how to develop a measurement scale: a questionnaire or instrument, with specific applications in health sciences. Its organization follows the steps developers will go through during the process beginning with how the individual items are developed, and the various biases that can affect responses (e.g., social desirability, yea-saying, framing). It then discusses different response options, such as Likert scales, adjectival scales, visual analogue scales, Harter scales, and face scales, and the advantages and disadvantages of each. The book then explains how to select the best items in the set, using various psychometric criteria; and how to combine the individual items into a scale. There is much discussion of reliability and validity, from both a theoretical and statistical perspective, with a separate chapter on generalizability theory. Although the perspective is that of classical test theory, there is also an in-depth presentation of item response theory. It concludes with a discussion of ethical issues that may be encountered in developing and using scales; and presents guidelines for reporting the results of the scale development process. In the appendices there is a comprehensive guide to finding existing scales, and a brief introduction to exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis.
David DeMatteo, Daniel C. Murrie, Natalie M. Anumba, and Michael E. Keesler
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195385809
- eISBN:
- 9780199895311
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195385809.003.0020
- Subject:
- Psychology, Forensic Psychology
This chapter provides an ethical context for forensic mental health professionals in death penalty cases. It discusses the ethical codes applicable to psychologists and psychiatrists, both generally ...
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This chapter provides an ethical context for forensic mental health professionals in death penalty cases. It discusses the ethical codes applicable to psychologists and psychiatrists, both generally and in the specific contexts of forensic mental health assessments, including the “Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct,” “Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychologists,” “The Principles of Medical Ethics,” “The Principles of Medical Ethics with Annotations Especially Applicable to Psychiatry,” and “Ethics Guidelines for the Practice of Forensic Psychiatry.” This chapter also examines several key ethical considerations relevant to forensic mental health assessments conducted in capital contexts, including boundaries of competence, do no harm, informed consent, psychometric considerations, cultural fairness, and malingering.Less
This chapter provides an ethical context for forensic mental health professionals in death penalty cases. It discusses the ethical codes applicable to psychologists and psychiatrists, both generally and in the specific contexts of forensic mental health assessments, including the “Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct,” “Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychologists,” “The Principles of Medical Ethics,” “The Principles of Medical Ethics with Annotations Especially Applicable to Psychiatry,” and “Ethics Guidelines for the Practice of Forensic Psychiatry.” This chapter also examines several key ethical considerations relevant to forensic mental health assessments conducted in capital contexts, including boundaries of competence, do no harm, informed consent, psychometric considerations, cultural fairness, and malingering.
Stephen W. Raudenbush
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195138382
- eISBN:
- 9780199865505
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195138382.003.0005
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health, Epidemiology
As interest in the social sciences and public health increasingly turns to the integration of individual, family, and neighborhood processes, a potential mismatch arises in the quality of measures. ...
More
As interest in the social sciences and public health increasingly turns to the integration of individual, family, and neighborhood processes, a potential mismatch arises in the quality of measures. Standing behind individual measurement are decades of research, producing measures that often have excellent statistical properties. In contrast, much less is known about measures of ecological settings such as neighborhoods, and the methodology needed to evaluate these measures is in its infancy. This chapter aims to adapt tools from psychometrics to improve the quality of ecometric measures. An extension to the approach sketched in the chapter would take into account spatial autocorrelation. Neighborhood clusters have been treated as independent. Ongoing work will build spatial associations into the models presented here.Less
As interest in the social sciences and public health increasingly turns to the integration of individual, family, and neighborhood processes, a potential mismatch arises in the quality of measures. Standing behind individual measurement are decades of research, producing measures that often have excellent statistical properties. In contrast, much less is known about measures of ecological settings such as neighborhoods, and the methodology needed to evaluate these measures is in its infancy. This chapter aims to adapt tools from psychometrics to improve the quality of ecometric measures. An extension to the approach sketched in the chapter would take into account spatial autocorrelation. Neighborhood clusters have been treated as independent. Ongoing work will build spatial associations into the models presented here.
Ian McDowell
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195165678
- eISBN:
- 9780199864034
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195165678.003.0002
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health, Epidemiology
This chapter introduces the field of health measurement, tracing its historical evolution and describing its foundations in psychophysics, psychometrics, and econometrics. It reviews technical ...
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This chapter introduces the field of health measurement, tracing its historical evolution and describing its foundations in psychophysics, psychometrics, and econometrics. It reviews technical approaches to testing the validity and reliability of a measurement instrument.Less
This chapter introduces the field of health measurement, tracing its historical evolution and describing its foundations in psychophysics, psychometrics, and econometrics. It reviews technical approaches to testing the validity and reliability of a measurement instrument.
Brian E. Perron and David F. Gillespie
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- April 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199855483
- eISBN:
- 9780190235963
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199855483.001.0001
- Subject:
- Social Work, Research and Evaluation
Measurement refers generally to the process of assigning a numeric value to, or ordering characteristics or traits of, entities under study so, ideally, the labels accurately represent the ...
More
Measurement refers generally to the process of assigning a numeric value to, or ordering characteristics or traits of, entities under study so, ideally, the labels accurately represent the characteristic measured. Measurement is necessary for building and testing theory, specifying problems, and de?ning goals. It is arguably one of the most important and difficult tasks in social work research. Social work researchers who are not expert in developing, selecting, and using measures will not be able to contribute maximally to the social work knowledge base. Such knowledge and skills related to measurement ultimately determines the extent to which social work research can effectively inform social policy and social work interventions. This book is to serve as a guide for developing, selecting, and using measures in social work research. The purpose of this book is twofold. The first purpose is to review key concepts in social work measurement, giving emphasis to aspects of measurement that are commonly misunderstood. The second purpose of this book is to help update social work's knowledge base with respect to recent and important developments in measurement, particularly contemporary validity theory.Less
Measurement refers generally to the process of assigning a numeric value to, or ordering characteristics or traits of, entities under study so, ideally, the labels accurately represent the characteristic measured. Measurement is necessary for building and testing theory, specifying problems, and de?ning goals. It is arguably one of the most important and difficult tasks in social work research. Social work researchers who are not expert in developing, selecting, and using measures will not be able to contribute maximally to the social work knowledge base. Such knowledge and skills related to measurement ultimately determines the extent to which social work research can effectively inform social policy and social work interventions. This book is to serve as a guide for developing, selecting, and using measures in social work research. The purpose of this book is twofold. The first purpose is to review key concepts in social work measurement, giving emphasis to aspects of measurement that are commonly misunderstood. The second purpose of this book is to help update social work's knowledge base with respect to recent and important developments in measurement, particularly contemporary validity theory.
Marc H. Bornstein and Jennifer E. Lansford
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199922994
- eISBN:
- 9780199980420
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199922994.003.0018
- Subject:
- Psychology, Developmental Psychology
Policymakers and practitioners use assessments of early childhood development (ECD) to guide decisions regarding allocation of resources, interventions for children, and national policies. It is ...
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Policymakers and practitioners use assessments of early childhood development (ECD) to guide decisions regarding allocation of resources, interventions for children, and national policies. It is therefore important to measure ECD in rigorous and methodologically sound ways. This chapter addresses issues related to ethics, research design, psychometrics, comparison across countries or cultures, measurement equivalence, and other technical points germane to ECD assessment. It provides illustrations to demonstrate these issues in the case of specific ECD indicators. The chapter concludes by recommending that ECD assessments should be obtained with care, to ensure the protection of children’s rights; appropriately linked to the purpose of the assessment; valid and reliable; adapted from existing measures, with careful attention paid to making the measures culturally appropriate or developed anew using principles of sound test construction; and easy to obtain and use in low-resource settings. Rigorous ECD assessments are valuable to promote children’s well-being worldwide.Less
Policymakers and practitioners use assessments of early childhood development (ECD) to guide decisions regarding allocation of resources, interventions for children, and national policies. It is therefore important to measure ECD in rigorous and methodologically sound ways. This chapter addresses issues related to ethics, research design, psychometrics, comparison across countries or cultures, measurement equivalence, and other technical points germane to ECD assessment. It provides illustrations to demonstrate these issues in the case of specific ECD indicators. The chapter concludes by recommending that ECD assessments should be obtained with care, to ensure the protection of children’s rights; appropriately linked to the purpose of the assessment; valid and reliable; adapted from existing measures, with careful attention paid to making the measures culturally appropriate or developed anew using principles of sound test construction; and easy to obtain and use in low-resource settings. Rigorous ECD assessments are valuable to promote children’s well-being worldwide.
Sandra Greenberg and I. Leon Smith
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195306088
- eISBN:
- 9780199847471
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195306088.003.0003
- Subject:
- Psychology, Clinical Psychology
Various professions have created models with the theory in mind that the assessment of professional competency will enhance the quality assurance and conduct of professional practice. The ...
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Various professions have created models with the theory in mind that the assessment of professional competency will enhance the quality assurance and conduct of professional practice. The effectiveness and implications of those models' professional competence whether as developmental, impermanent, or content specific are assessed in the field of psychometrics. Key factors include validity, feasibility, fidelity, and the specified use of the assessment itself. The Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB), founded in 1961, functions as a licensure/registration assessment—the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP), whereas the works of International Test Commission provide a functional structure for developing and interpreting for use within and across nations. Methodological quantitative and qualitative examinations in other professions in assessing their competencies are cultural; its complexity derived by differences in recognition of functional and rudimentary competencies, in interaction of scope and practice in regions across the world, and in basic attitudes towards assessment.Less
Various professions have created models with the theory in mind that the assessment of professional competency will enhance the quality assurance and conduct of professional practice. The effectiveness and implications of those models' professional competence whether as developmental, impermanent, or content specific are assessed in the field of psychometrics. Key factors include validity, feasibility, fidelity, and the specified use of the assessment itself. The Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB), founded in 1961, functions as a licensure/registration assessment—the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP), whereas the works of International Test Commission provide a functional structure for developing and interpreting for use within and across nations. Methodological quantitative and qualitative examinations in other professions in assessing their competencies are cultural; its complexity derived by differences in recognition of functional and rudimentary competencies, in interaction of scope and practice in regions across the world, and in basic attitudes towards assessment.
José Hernández-Orallo and Adolfo Plasencia
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780262036016
- eISBN:
- 9780262339308
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262036016.003.0031
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Technology and Society
In this dialogue comprising seven widely diverse sections, José Hernández-Orallo, specialist in AI, reflects on a variety of topics surrounding Natural Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence (AI): ...
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In this dialogue comprising seven widely diverse sections, José Hernández-Orallo, specialist in AI, reflects on a variety of topics surrounding Natural Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence (AI): 1. On what is measurable in intelligence, and what its ingredients are; 2. On how to universally measure intelligence; 3. On the Turing test; 4. On compared intelligences and the IQ (Intelligence Quotient); 5. On the AI agents of software; 6. On whether the human condition, (and happiness), can be mathematized; 7. On the relationship between intelligence and humor; and, 8. Are there universal ingredients in what we call intelligence? Toward the end, he talks about the current science and technology debate on whether the evolution of AI and its latest most disturbing incarnations (e.g., lethal autonomous weapons) can become an existential threat for humans or not. His reflections are culminated with arguments concerning a real danger— that someone, or something, might modify the present natural distribution of intelligence in the planet, which could end up being controlled by a global oligopoly.Less
In this dialogue comprising seven widely diverse sections, José Hernández-Orallo, specialist in AI, reflects on a variety of topics surrounding Natural Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence (AI): 1. On what is measurable in intelligence, and what its ingredients are; 2. On how to universally measure intelligence; 3. On the Turing test; 4. On compared intelligences and the IQ (Intelligence Quotient); 5. On the AI agents of software; 6. On whether the human condition, (and happiness), can be mathematized; 7. On the relationship between intelligence and humor; and, 8. Are there universal ingredients in what we call intelligence? Toward the end, he talks about the current science and technology debate on whether the evolution of AI and its latest most disturbing incarnations (e.g., lethal autonomous weapons) can become an existential threat for humans or not. His reflections are culminated with arguments concerning a real danger— that someone, or something, might modify the present natural distribution of intelligence in the planet, which could end up being controlled by a global oligopoly.
Colin Koopman
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780226626444
- eISBN:
- 9780226626611
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226626611.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
The central argument of How We Became Our Data is that for the past one hundred years we have been organized by a politics of data within which control is exerted by the many formats of our ...
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The central argument of How We Became Our Data is that for the past one hundred years we have been organized by a politics of data within which control is exerted by the many formats of our information. Over the past century we have become informational persons whose lives are increasingly conducted through an information politics. This chapter traces personality metrics amid an episode in the stabilization of a prestigious subfield in scientific psychology, namely personality psychology. In 1917, Robert Sessions Woodworth of Columbia University produced for the U.S. Army the first personality test in the history of psychology. Personality testing, rating, and assessment soon took off and could be considered a consolidated field by 1937, when Gordon Allport of Harvard University produced the first academic textbook on the subject of personality psychology. This chapter builds on work in the history of psychology by genealogists including Nikolas Rose, Arnold Davidson, and Michel Foucault. In doing so, it offers a unique angle of attention to the underlying algorithms by which personality psychology achieved scientific success. The result is an account of the informational conditions still central to contemporary conceptions of mind, behavior, achievement, and ability.Less
The central argument of How We Became Our Data is that for the past one hundred years we have been organized by a politics of data within which control is exerted by the many formats of our information. Over the past century we have become informational persons whose lives are increasingly conducted through an information politics. This chapter traces personality metrics amid an episode in the stabilization of a prestigious subfield in scientific psychology, namely personality psychology. In 1917, Robert Sessions Woodworth of Columbia University produced for the U.S. Army the first personality test in the history of psychology. Personality testing, rating, and assessment soon took off and could be considered a consolidated field by 1937, when Gordon Allport of Harvard University produced the first academic textbook on the subject of personality psychology. This chapter builds on work in the history of psychology by genealogists including Nikolas Rose, Arnold Davidson, and Michel Foucault. In doing so, it offers a unique angle of attention to the underlying algorithms by which personality psychology achieved scientific success. The result is an account of the informational conditions still central to contemporary conceptions of mind, behavior, achievement, and ability.
Juan Xi and Matthew T. Lee
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- April 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780197512531
- eISBN:
- 9780197512562
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780197512531.003.0016
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
Although philosophers and theologians have emphasized the centrality of inner peace for the good life, this concept has not generally been included in research on human flourishing. The authors argue ...
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Although philosophers and theologians have emphasized the centrality of inner peace for the good life, this concept has not generally been included in research on human flourishing. The authors argue that inner peace contributes to a more complete form of flourishing for both religious and secular people. They then propose a new instrument, the Inner Peace Scale, to measure inner peace, and they provide an initial psychometric evaluation of the instrument based on five empirical studies. The authors distinguish their scale from related measures, such as contentment, serenity, or tranquility. Engagement with literature from the social sciences and the humanities, along with the authors’ research findings, suggest that inner peace is comprised of three dimensions: acceptance of loss, transcendence of hedonism and materialism, and inner balance and calmness. Greater attention to the dimension of transcending hedonism and materialism may prove especially helpful in advancing the field, particularly in consumeristic societies.Less
Although philosophers and theologians have emphasized the centrality of inner peace for the good life, this concept has not generally been included in research on human flourishing. The authors argue that inner peace contributes to a more complete form of flourishing for both religious and secular people. They then propose a new instrument, the Inner Peace Scale, to measure inner peace, and they provide an initial psychometric evaluation of the instrument based on five empirical studies. The authors distinguish their scale from related measures, such as contentment, serenity, or tranquility. Engagement with literature from the social sciences and the humanities, along with the authors’ research findings, suggest that inner peace is comprised of three dimensions: acceptance of loss, transcendence of hedonism and materialism, and inner balance and calmness. Greater attention to the dimension of transcending hedonism and materialism may prove especially helpful in advancing the field, particularly in consumeristic societies.
Brian E. Perron and David F. Gillespie
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- April 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199855483
- eISBN:
- 9780190235963
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199855483.003.0001
- Subject:
- Social Work, Research and Evaluation
Measurement refers generally to the process of assigning a numeric value to, or ordering characteristics or traits of, entities under study so, ideally, the labels accurately represent the ...
More
Measurement refers generally to the process of assigning a numeric value to, or ordering characteristics or traits of, entities under study so, ideally, the labels accurately represent the characteristic measured. This introductory chapter discussed this definition of measurement and its relevance to social work research and everyday life. This background information is essential to understanding the major content areas of the book. Following this discussion the reader is a brief review of terminology used throughout the book, the authors' philosophical and theoretical orientations, and the relevance of measurement to qualitative research.Less
Measurement refers generally to the process of assigning a numeric value to, or ordering characteristics or traits of, entities under study so, ideally, the labels accurately represent the characteristic measured. This introductory chapter discussed this definition of measurement and its relevance to social work research and everyday life. This background information is essential to understanding the major content areas of the book. Following this discussion the reader is a brief review of terminology used throughout the book, the authors' philosophical and theoretical orientations, and the relevance of measurement to qualitative research.
Steven J. Osterlind
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198831600
- eISBN:
- 9780191869532
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198831600.003.0016
- Subject:
- Mathematics, Logic / Computer Science / Mathematical Philosophy
This chapter is devoted to describing the notables of psychometrics and psychological testing and how their efforts contributed to quantification. By this point, quantification is decidedly moving ...
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This chapter is devoted to describing the notables of psychometrics and psychological testing and how their efforts contributed to quantification. By this point, quantification is decidedly moving into realms of psychology and sociology. This chapter focuses on the largest evidence for this: educational testing and psychological testing. It addresses the very personal nature of such tests, and cites many kinds of such test, including in the cognitive behavioral and psychomotor domains. A very brief introduction to reliability and validity is given, with a focus on psychometric analyses. Most of the chapter is devoted to describing the contributions of four individuals who were instrumental to founding modern testing: Francis Galton, Wilhelm Wundt, James McKeen Cattell, and Alfred Binet.Less
This chapter is devoted to describing the notables of psychometrics and psychological testing and how their efforts contributed to quantification. By this point, quantification is decidedly moving into realms of psychology and sociology. This chapter focuses on the largest evidence for this: educational testing and psychological testing. It addresses the very personal nature of such tests, and cites many kinds of such test, including in the cognitive behavioral and psychomotor domains. A very brief introduction to reliability and validity is given, with a focus on psychometric analyses. Most of the chapter is devoted to describing the contributions of four individuals who were instrumental to founding modern testing: Francis Galton, Wilhelm Wundt, James McKeen Cattell, and Alfred Binet.
Michael Trask
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781501752438
- eISBN:
- 9781501752452
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501752438.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This chapter discusses how IQ reappeared in the era as a proper measure of personhood. Numerous figures looked to psychometrics as confirming the objective existence of separate subjectivities. ...
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This chapter discusses how IQ reappeared in the era as a proper measure of personhood. Numerous figures looked to psychometrics as confirming the objective existence of separate subjectivities. Examining the promise and defeat of artificial intelligence in philosophy of mind and New Wave science fiction, the chapter shows that a suspicion of Great Society welfarism took hold among writers with little in common except their commitment to the idea that human minds could neither be replicated by machines nor reconfigured by state institutions without injury to personhood. If there is something weird about reviving not just classical IQ science but also classical liberalism, at least one can trace the motivation for such retrievals to the widespread seventies attitude that the present itself had little to offer by way of solutions to social problems. Many forward-thinking or progressive figures in the decade preferred to look to the past, a habit of mind that hastened the collapse of the present.Less
This chapter discusses how IQ reappeared in the era as a proper measure of personhood. Numerous figures looked to psychometrics as confirming the objective existence of separate subjectivities. Examining the promise and defeat of artificial intelligence in philosophy of mind and New Wave science fiction, the chapter shows that a suspicion of Great Society welfarism took hold among writers with little in common except their commitment to the idea that human minds could neither be replicated by machines nor reconfigured by state institutions without injury to personhood. If there is something weird about reviving not just classical IQ science but also classical liberalism, at least one can trace the motivation for such retrievals to the widespread seventies attitude that the present itself had little to offer by way of solutions to social problems. Many forward-thinking or progressive figures in the decade preferred to look to the past, a habit of mind that hastened the collapse of the present.
Steven J. Osterlind
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198831600
- eISBN:
- 9780191869532
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198831600.003.0001
- Subject:
- Mathematics, Logic / Computer Science / Mathematical Philosophy
This chapter introduces the extraordinary story of “quantification,” the perception of seeing things—both the everyday and the extraordinary—through the lens of quantifiable events (i.e., via odds, ...
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This chapter introduces the extraordinary story of “quantification,” the perception of seeing things—both the everyday and the extraordinary—through the lens of quantifiable events (i.e., via odds, probability, and likelihood). This concept arose when people learned how to measure uncertainty, through the development of probability theory. The chapter presents many examples of using probability for measuring uncertainty and sets the historical context for the following chapters by showing how the idea of quantification developed during a relatively brief period in history, roughly from the end of Napoleonic era through the start of World War I. This era saw a torrent of mathematical developments, specifically, the invention of probability theory, the bell curve, regressions, Bayesian conditional probabilities, and psychometrics. The chapter also explains that this book is not a history of probability theory but a story of how history and mathematics came together to fashion the current worldview.Less
This chapter introduces the extraordinary story of “quantification,” the perception of seeing things—both the everyday and the extraordinary—through the lens of quantifiable events (i.e., via odds, probability, and likelihood). This concept arose when people learned how to measure uncertainty, through the development of probability theory. The chapter presents many examples of using probability for measuring uncertainty and sets the historical context for the following chapters by showing how the idea of quantification developed during a relatively brief period in history, roughly from the end of Napoleonic era through the start of World War I. This era saw a torrent of mathematical developments, specifically, the invention of probability theory, the bell curve, regressions, Bayesian conditional probabilities, and psychometrics. The chapter also explains that this book is not a history of probability theory but a story of how history and mathematics came together to fashion the current worldview.
Rochelle Raineri Zuck
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816689682
- eISBN:
- 9781452949314
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816689682.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Environmental History
This chapter examines how early publicity appropriated spiritualist themes to legitimize the fledgling oil industry by focusing on the exploits of the medium-turned-oilman Abraham James. It shows ...
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This chapter examines how early publicity appropriated spiritualist themes to legitimize the fledgling oil industry by focusing on the exploits of the medium-turned-oilman Abraham James. It shows that American spiritualism and the oil industry had more in common than just temporal and geographic proximity; they were both invested in a belief in the unseen, whether in the form of deceased loved ones or underground oil reserves. Drawing on biographical accounts of James and accounts of his work in Chicago (1863–1864) and Pleasantville, Pennsylvania (1866–1868), it considers how spiritualism shaped and was shaped by nineteenth-century oil culture. James and his Harmonial wells remind us of the practical applications of spiritualism and the psychometrics of the oil industry and force us to rethink widely held distinctions between the spiritual and scientific.Less
This chapter examines how early publicity appropriated spiritualist themes to legitimize the fledgling oil industry by focusing on the exploits of the medium-turned-oilman Abraham James. It shows that American spiritualism and the oil industry had more in common than just temporal and geographic proximity; they were both invested in a belief in the unseen, whether in the form of deceased loved ones or underground oil reserves. Drawing on biographical accounts of James and accounts of his work in Chicago (1863–1864) and Pleasantville, Pennsylvania (1866–1868), it considers how spiritualism shaped and was shaped by nineteenth-century oil culture. James and his Harmonial wells remind us of the practical applications of spiritualism and the psychometrics of the oil industry and force us to rethink widely held distinctions between the spiritual and scientific.
Ivan Moscati
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- December 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780199372768
- eISBN:
- 9780199372805
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199372768.003.0005
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Microeconomics
Like chapter 1, chapter 4 broadens the narrative beyond utility measurement and reconstructs the discussions of measurement that took place in physics, philosophy, and psychology between 1910 and ...
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Like chapter 1, chapter 4 broadens the narrative beyond utility measurement and reconstructs the discussions of measurement that took place in physics, philosophy, and psychology between 1910 and 1940. In physics and philosophy, the most influential discussion of measurement was presented in 1920 by Cambridge physicist Norman Robert Campbell. Campbell articulated a theory of fundamental and derived measurement that ultimately maintained the identification of measurement with unit-based measurement. In the 1920s, psychologists such as William Brown and Godfrey Thomson in England and Louis Leon Thurstone in the United States argued that some of their quantification techniques were capable of delivering unit-based measurement of sensations. Physicists denied this, and the resulting clash of views generated a controversy that engaged British physicists and psychologists from 1932 to 1940. The controversy ended in deadlock, with physicists and psychologists unable to find agreement on the meaning and the conditions of measurement.Less
Like chapter 1, chapter 4 broadens the narrative beyond utility measurement and reconstructs the discussions of measurement that took place in physics, philosophy, and psychology between 1910 and 1940. In physics and philosophy, the most influential discussion of measurement was presented in 1920 by Cambridge physicist Norman Robert Campbell. Campbell articulated a theory of fundamental and derived measurement that ultimately maintained the identification of measurement with unit-based measurement. In the 1920s, psychologists such as William Brown and Godfrey Thomson in England and Louis Leon Thurstone in the United States argued that some of their quantification techniques were capable of delivering unit-based measurement of sensations. Physicists denied this, and the resulting clash of views generated a controversy that engaged British physicists and psychologists from 1932 to 1940. The controversy ended in deadlock, with physicists and psychologists unable to find agreement on the meaning and the conditions of measurement.
Paul D. Bliese, Eliza W. Wicher, and Dhuha Abdulsalam
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190939717
- eISBN:
- 9780190939748
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190939717.003.0018
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
Firms rely on aggregate responses from engagement survey data in order to differentiate between teams of direct reports under specific managers, divisions, business units, etc. In this chapter, the ...
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Firms rely on aggregate responses from engagement survey data in order to differentiate between teams of direct reports under specific managers, divisions, business units, etc. In this chapter, the authors show that items vary with respect to being able to differentiate groups and provide concrete and practical information relevant to selecting items used in engagement surveys. Specifically, the authors show how item-level intraclass correlation coefficient type 1 (ICC[1]) values can provide useful information to optimize group differentiation beyond traditional psychometrics. Using multiple examples from applied settings, they provide insights regarding interpreting ICC(1) values, wording of survey items, stability of ICC(1) values, and the difference between ICC(1) values and traditional psychometric values.Less
Firms rely on aggregate responses from engagement survey data in order to differentiate between teams of direct reports under specific managers, divisions, business units, etc. In this chapter, the authors show that items vary with respect to being able to differentiate groups and provide concrete and practical information relevant to selecting items used in engagement surveys. Specifically, the authors show how item-level intraclass correlation coefficient type 1 (ICC[1]) values can provide useful information to optimize group differentiation beyond traditional psychometrics. Using multiple examples from applied settings, they provide insights regarding interpreting ICC(1) values, wording of survey items, stability of ICC(1) values, and the difference between ICC(1) values and traditional psychometric values.