Chapter 3: The Measurement of Behavior Continued

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Chapter 3 The Measurement of Behavior Continued

• Validity the extent to which a measure actually
  measures what it is intended to measure
• The truthfulness of a measures.
• A test can be reliable and not be valid.
• Construct validity The extend to which a measure
  measures the conceptual variable it is designed
  to measure.
• Related to the adequacy of the operational
  definition of the variable

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• Convergent validity the extent to which scores
  on a measure correlate with scores on a different
  measure of the same construct.
• Does depression measure A correlate with
  depression measure B?
• Discriminant validity the extent to which scores
  on a measure do NOT correlate with scores on a
  measure of a different construct.
• Does the depression measure correlate with verbal
  ability?
• Content validity whether the measure covers the
  full domain of the conceptual variable.
• Does your test measures all the variables that
  are involved in IQ?

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• Face validity whether a measure appears to
  measures a construst
• Face validity does not mean measure is valid
• measuring skull size appeared to be a good
  measure of IQ.
• If a measure lacks face validity it still may be
  valid
• some personality measures have questions that do
  not appear to be related to personailty
• Sometimes researchers do not want face validity.
• Some measures of psychotic behavior may have
  disguised questions so the participant does not
  know what it is being measured.

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• Criterion Validity to extent to which scores on
  a measure are related to a criterion (an
  indicator of the construct).
• Does the measure allow you to distinguish
  participants on a behavioral criterion?
• The extend to which the measures correlates with
  a behavioral measures.
• Predictive validity the extent to which a
  measure correlates with a future behavior.
• Does the GRE predict success in grad school?
• Concurrent validity whether a measure correlates
  with a behavioral measures at the same time.

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Validity Issues

• Reactivity a measure is reactive if awareness of
  being measured influences the participants
  behavior and scores.
• Test-bias occurs when a measure is not equally
  valid for everyone who takes the test.
• Difficult to determine because it is hard to
  detect whether the groups actually do differ on
  the conceptual variable.
• A biased test will have a weaker predictive
  validity for the group which it is thought to be
  biased against.

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• Ways to improve validity of measures
• Pilot testing try out the measure on a small
  group of participants before the study starts to
  get an idea of how they react to it and whether
  it is measuring what it is intended to measure.
• Make your items non-reactive
• Consider face and content validity by choosing
  items that seem reasonable and represent a broad
  range of questions concerning the concept.
• Validate your measure against other measures and
  criterion variables

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Chapter 4 Approaches to Psychological Measurement

• Observational Measures
• Direct observation of behavior. Make observations
  of behavior and record them objectively.
• 1. Naturalistic vs Contrived setting
• Naturalistic observation observation of behavior
  in natural setting with no intrusion of
  researcher.
• Observe everyday behavior and activities
• Participant observation researcher participates
  in study, usually unknown to the participant.

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• Contrived Setting observe behavior in a setting
  designed for the study (e.g. lab)
• observe child aggression in playroom in a lab
• Ecological validity extent to which research is
  conducted in situations that are similar to
  participants everyday lives.
• 2. Disguised vs Nondisguised Observation
• Undisguised participants know that a researcher
  is observing them
• Reactivity participants may act differently if
  they know they are being watched.

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• Disguised participants do not know they are
  being observed.
• Informed consent? Usually not needed if watching
  people in public and the researchers do not
  intrude on or upset participants.
• Partial concealment participants know they are
  begin observed, but do not know what the
  researchers are measuring.
• Knowledgeable informants have someone who knows
  the participants well (friends, family) observe
  their behavior.

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• Unobtrusive measures measures taken without the
  participant knowing it.
• Dyadic interaction paradigm Observe behavior
  naturally without participant knowing and then
  inform them after and ask for their consent.
• 3. Behavioral Recording
• how to record the participants behavior
• Narratives record a full description of
  participants behavior. Unstructured.
• Video or audio recording
• field notes

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• Checklists Structured. Record behavior by
  checking off behaviors on a checklist.
• Depends on the operational definition of the
  concept
• some behaviors may be difficult to record on a
  checklist
• have to know what you are looking for ahead of
  time
• Temporal measures when behavior occurs (latency)
  or who long it lasted (duration).
• Reaction time time between stimulus and response.

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• Task completion time time to complete a task.
• Interbehavior latency time between two
  behaviors.
• Duration how long a behavior lasted.
• Observational Rating Scale measure quality or
  intensity of behavior.
• Scale to measure intensity of laughter

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Physiological Measures

• Measure of neural activity
• EEG to measure brain waves
• Measure of autonomic nervous system activity
• Involuntary responses like heart rate,
  temperature, and respiration.
• Blood analysis
• hormones, blood cells
• Specific bodily reactions
• arousal, blushing.

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Self-Report Questionnaires and Interviews

• Survey research ask people to provide
  information about themselves.
• Most widely used method of collecting descriptive
  information on participants.
• Goal is to produce a snapshot of the opinions,
  attitudes, or behaviors of a group of people at a
  given time.
• Allows researcher to gather a lot of information
  in a short amount of time.

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• Questionnaires a set of fixed format,
  self-report items completed by the participant.
• Can be administered individually or to a group.
• Can be mail-out surveys or internet surveys.
• Response rate percent of people who complete and
  return and questionnaire.
• Important to have a high response rate to ensure
  your results reflect the responses of the entire
  group (rather than a subset) to ensure your
  results are generalizabile.

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• Interviews questions are read to the participant
  in person or over the phone and the participant
  responds orally.
• Unstructured interview the interviewer talks
  freely with the participant about many topics.
• Provides in-depth information, but may be
  subjective.
• Structured interview interviewer uses
  quantitative fixed-format items. Questions are
  prepared ahead of time.
• allows better comparison across individuals.
• Focus group interview interview a selected
  groups on individuals at the same time.

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• Pros and Cons of Questionnaires and Interviews
• Questionnaires are cheaper, less time consuming,
  and require less training than interviews.
• Interview bias interviewers can bias
  participants answers by their facial expressions
  and intonation.
• Questionnaires can produce more honest answers,
  especially when dealing with sensitive issues.
• Questionnaires are inappropriate for those who
  can not read.
• Interviews are better for young children and
  cognitively impaired or disturbed individuals.
• Interviewers can ensure the participants
  understand the questions

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• Biases in self-report measures
• Social Desirability people may respond in the
  socially desirable manner.
• They may be concerned that they may be judged by
  the researcher for having a particular opinion.
• Threats the validity of the measure.
• Ensure questions are worded neutrally
• Ensure anonymity of responses
• Response styles
• Acquiescence tendency to agree with statements
• Nay-saying tendency to disagree with statements.

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Archival Data

• Analyze data from existing records
• databases, census, magazines, newspapers
• Useful for studying psychological phenomena that
  occurred in the past
• changes in family types
• Useful for studying behavioral changes over time
• Allows the researchers to study phenomena that
  they cannot conduct a study on
• riots, world events.