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18 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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10.How are variables related to theoretical concepts? Givean example. |
Because the variables exist in the world but the theory is an idea, you must make certain assumptions to relate the two. These assumptions are guide ropes that tie a theory to the real world. The variables are tangible: duration, frequency, rate, or intensity of bar presses; items checked on a questionnaire; murders committed; books written. The theoretical concept is intangible: hunger, love, motivation, anxiety. The variables are related to the theoretical concepts by means of the operational definitions used to measure the concepts.
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11.Distinguish between independent variables and dependentvariables. Give examples. |
The dependent variable is a measure of the behavior of the subject. The dependent variable is the response that the person or animal makes. This response may be a score on some sort of test, or it may be a behavioral response that can be measured using at least one of several different dimensions The independent variable is one that is believed to cause some change in the value of the dependent variable. The independent variable is the stimulus of stimulus-response psychology. |
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12. What are the levels of an independent variable? |
Every independent variable has at least two values; otherwise, it wouldn’t be a variable. These values are commonly called levels. In such investigations, variables are often called variables of interest, because the cause and effect of an observed relationship between the variables is not clear. sometimes there are independent variables that the researcher does not manipulate. These are called subject variables. Examples of subject variables are poverty and the sex, age, or intelligence quotient (IQ) of a person. These independent variables cannot be controlled by the researcher. |
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14.Distinguish between quantitative and categoricalvariables. Give examples. |
The distinction that some variables are quantitative whereas others are categorical is easy to state, even though it may be difficult to apply to particular cases. A quantitative variable is one that varies in amount, whereas a categorical variable varies in kind.
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15.What is the difference between continuous and discrete variables? |
Some quantitative variables can take any value on a continuum. They are called continuous variables because they are not limited to a certain number of values, such as whole numbers, or to discrete bins. In principle, you can measure latency, duration, or force of a bar press with any desired precision; in practice, the fineness of the measure is limited by the ability of the measuring instrument. Discrete variables, by contrast, fall into distinct bins, as the word discrete suggests. The number of marriages contracted, murders committed, or books written are all discrete variables.
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16.Define measurement.
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Measurement is the assignment of numbers to events or objects according to rules that permit important properties of the objects or events to be represented by properties of the number system.
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17.What are the four types of measurement scales? What aretheir properties? Give examples. |
nominal scale: is one that classifies objects or events into categories according to their similarities or differences ordinal scale: a measure that both assigns objects or events a name and arranges them in order of their magnitude. s. The rule for assigning numbers on an ordinal scale is that the ordinal position (rank order) of numbers on the scale must represent the rank order of the psycho- logical attributes of the objects or events. interval scale: a measure in which the differences between numbers are meaningful; includes both nominal and ordinal information ratio scale: a measure having a meaningful zero point as well as all of the nominal, ordinal, and interval properties |
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18.Is a person with an IQ of 120 "twice as smart"as a person with an IQ of 60? Why, or why not? |
IQ is a good example of an interval scale. The IQ tests are designed so that the amount of the differences between people can be meaningfully represented by the IQ score. However, IQ is not a ratio scale because it would be meaningless to say that a person with an IQ of 120 is twice as smart as someone with an IQ of 60.
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19.Define reliability of a test or measure. |
reliability: the property of consistency of a measurement that gives the same result on different occasions test-retest reliability: the degree to which the same test score would be obtained on another occasion. I am concerned with test-retest reliability when I try the bathroom scales immediately after getting a reading I don’t like. internal consistency: the degree to which the various items on a test are measures of the same thing Split-half reliability is deter- mined when the items on a test are divided into two sets as if they were two separate tests. Then the scores on the two halves are correlated to see how closely the various individuals’ scores agree on the two halves. If the test is a good test, it will have a high split-half correlation. |
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20.Define validity of a measurement. |
validity: (of a measurement) the property of a measurement that tests what it is supposed to test
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construct validity (of a test):
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a test that the measurements actually mea- sure the constructs they are designed to measure, but no others. There are several ways to determine whether a test yields data that have construct validity. First, the test should actually measure whatever theoretical construct it supposedly tests, and not something else. Second, a test that has construct validity should measure what it intends to measure but not measure theoretically unrelated constructs. Third, a test should prove useful in predicting results related to the theoretical concept it is measuring. |
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face validity:
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idea that a test should appear superficially to test what it is supposed to test. Face validity, however, is more a problem of public relations than of true validity. A test may have a high or low degree of validity, regardless of its face validity.
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Content validity
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is the notion that a test should sample the range of the behavior that is represented by the theoretical concept being measured. An intelligence test, for example, should measure general knowledge, verbal ability, spatial ability, and quantitative skills, among others. An intelligence test that measured only spatial ability would not have sufficient content validity.
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Criterion validity
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is the idea that a valid test should relate closely to other measures of the same theoretical construct.
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What is the nominal scale?
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nominal scale: is one that classifies objects or events into categories according to their similarities or differences |
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What is the ordinal scale?
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ordinal scale: a measure that both assigns objects or events a name and arranges them in order of their magnitude. s. The rule for assigning numbers on an ordinal scale is that the ordinal position (rank order) of numbers on the scale must represent the rank order of the psycho- logical attributes of the objects or events.
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what is the interval scale?
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interval scale: a measure in which the differences between numbers are meaningful; includes both nominal and ordinal information
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What is the ratio scale?
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ratio scale: a measure having a meaningful zero point as well as all of the nominal, ordinal, and interval properties |
