Introduction to Test Construction in the Social and Behavioral Sciences


Book Description

With the explicit goal of making the text accessible to readers with only a beginning level of statistical expertise, the authors include numerous examples and figures to illustrate necessary concepts and procedures, while minimizing jargon.




Introduction to Test Construction in the Social and Behavioral Sciences


Book Description

This book offers beginning researchers in psychology and education with limited statistics backgrounds a practical, hands-on guide to the preparation, assessment, and development of quantitative research instruments. With the explicit goal in mind of making the text accessible to readers with only a beginning level of statistical expertise, the authors include numerous examples and figures to illustrate necessary concepts and procedures, while minimizing jargon. The book includes an appendix with directions for the required statistical analyses for readers with access to SPSS. The organization of the book into two sections, theoretical and practical, with complementary chapters in each section, results in a practical and versatile resource to have in a variety of contexts. Because of its versatility, the book may be used either as a textbook for courses on test construction and instrument design or quantitative research methods in psychology and education, as a reference for researchers using and constructing quantitative instruments, or as background reading for professionals in related fields.




A Handbook of Test Construction (Psychology Revivals)


Book Description

Psychological tests provide reliable and objective standards by which individuals can be evaluated in education and employment. Therefore accurate judgements must depend on the reliability and quality of the tests themselves. Originally published in 1986, this handbook by an internationally acknowledged expert provided an introductory and comprehensive treatment of the business of constructing good tests. Paul Kline shows how to construct a test and then to check that it is working well. Covering most kinds of tests, including computer presented tests of the time, Rasch scaling and tailored testing, this title offers: a clear introduction to this complex field; a glossary of specialist terms; an explanation of the objective of reliability; step-by-step guidance through the statistical procedures; a description of the techniques used in constructing and standardizing tests; guidelines with examples for writing the test items; computer programs for many of the techniques. Although the computer testing will inevitably have moved on, students on courses in occupational, educational and clinical psychology, as well as in psychological testing itself, would still find this a valuable source of information, guidance and clear explanation.




Psychological Testing


Book Description

"Psychological Testing by Theresa J. B. Kline is an accessible, easy-to-read book that effectively communicates the current concepts, trends, and controversies in the field of psychological testing. Readers are provided with an in-depth analysis of psychometrics in a format that will keep their attention and that they will be able to relate to the significance of psychological testing across numerous areas such as schools, businesses, clinical settings, military, or government." -Todd L. Chmielewski, PsycCRITIQUES, December 7, 2005 VOL. 50, NO. 49, ARTICLE 12 Psychological Testing: A Practical Approach to Design and Evaluation offers a fresh and innovative approach to students and faculty in the fields of testing, measurement, psychometrics, research design, and related areas of study. Author Theresa J.B. Kline guides readers through the process of designing and evaluating a test, while ensuring that the test meets the highest professional standards. The author uses simple, clear examples throughout and fully details the required statistical analyses. Topics include—but are not limited to—design of item stems and responses; sampling strategies; classical and modern test theory; IRT program examples; reliability of tests and raters; validation using content, criterion-related, and factor analytic approaches; test and item bias; and professional and ethical issues in testing. With the student in mind, Kline has created features that ease them into more difficult ideas, always stressing the practical use of theoretical concepts. Features include A step-by-step approach to designing a test, including construct identification, construct operationalization, collecting data, item assessment, and reliability and validity techniques Examples of data analyses with printouts and interpretation Up-to-date coverage of psychometric topics, such as difference scores, change scores, translation, computer adaptive testing, reliability and validity generalization, professional and ethical guidelines, and references IRT program outputs (dichotomous and multiple response) Coverage of traditional topics in the context of how they would be used, such as standard errors and confidence intervals Sampling approaches and their strengths and weaknesses, as well as response rates and missing data management Psychological Testing is perfectly suited as a main text for upper-level undergraduate and graduate Testing or Psychometrics courses in departments of Psychology, Education, Sociology, Management, and in the Human Services disciplines. Professional researchers, educators, and consultants will also want to add this to their libraries for up-to-date coverage of test design and evaluation techniques. "Professor Kline′s attempts to de-mystify complex measurement concepts are beautifully simplified and illustrated in her countless illustrations of practical and relevant problems for the mathematically-challenged student. This book is also a must-have for those who simply do not have the desire for the theoretical jargon used in similar textbooks but are interested in the important conceptual and practical aspects of measurement as they apply in their disciplines." —Arturo Olivarez, Jr., Texas Tech University "Kline′s Psychological Testing provides a well-written treatment of the critical issues in designing and evaluating psychometric instruments. This book will be very useful to advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, and researchers." —Richard Block, Montana State University




Linear Models for Optimal Test Design


Book Description

Wim van der Linden was just given a lifetime achievement award by the National Council on Measurement in Education. There is no one more prominent in the area of educational testing. There are hundreds of computer-based credentialing exams in areas such as accounting, real estate, nursing, and securities, as well as the well-known admissions exams for college, graduate school, medical school, and law school - there is great need on the theory of testing. This book presents the statistical theory and practice behind constructing good tests e.g., how is the first test item selected, how are the next items selected, and when do you have enough items.




Frontiers of Test Validity Theory


Book Description

This book examines test validity in the behavioral, social, and educational sciences by exploring three fundamental problems: measurement, causation and meaning. Psychometric and philosophical perspectives receive attention along with unresolved issues. The authors explore how measurement is conceived from both the classical and modern perspectives. The importance of understanding the underlying concepts as well as the practical challenges of test construction and use receive emphasis throughout. The book summarizes the current state of the test validity theory field. Necessary background on test theory and statistics is presented as a conceptual overview where needed. Each chapter begins with an overview of key material reviewed in previous chapters, concludes with a list of suggested readings, and features boxes with examples that connect theory to practice. These examples reflect actual situations that occurred in psychology, education, and other disciplines in the US and around the globe, bringing theory to life. Critical thinking questions related to the boxed material engage and challenge readers. A few examples include: What is the difference between intelligence and IQ? Can people disagree on issues of value but agree on issues of test validity? Is it possible to ask the same question in two different languages? The first part of the book contrasts theories of measurement as applied to the validity of behavioral science measures.The next part considers causal theories of measurement in relation to alternatives such as behavior domain sampling, and then unpacks the causal approach in terms of alternative theories of causation.The final section explores the meaning and interpretation of test scores as it applies to test validity. Each set of chapters opens with a review of the key theories and literature and concludes with a review of related open questions in test validity theory. Researchers, practitioners and policy makers interested in test validity or developing tests appreciate the book's cutting edge review of test validity. The book also serves as a supplement in graduate or advanced undergraduate courses on test validity, psychometrics, testing or measurement taught in psychology, education, sociology, social work, political science, business, criminal justice and other fields. The book does not assume a background in measurement.




Measurement Models for Psychological Attributes


Book Description

Despite the overwhelming use of tests and questionnaires, the psychometric models for constructing these instruments are often poorly understood, leading to suboptimal measurement. Measurement Models for Psychological Attributes is a comprehensive and accessible treatment of the common and the less than common measurement models for the social, behavioral, and health sciences. The monograph explains the adequate use of measurement models for test construction, points out their merits and drawbacks, and critically discusses topics that have raised and continue to raise controversy. Because introductory texts on statistics and psychometrics are sufficient to understand its content, the monograph may be used in advanced courses on applied psychometrics, and is attractive to both researchers and graduate students in psychology, education, sociology, political science, medicine and marketing, policy research, and opinion research. The monograph provides an in-depth discussion of classical test theory and factor models in Chapter 2; nonparametric and parametric item response theory in Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, respectively; latent class models and cognitive diagnosis models in Chapter 5; and discusses pairwise comparison models, proximity models, response time models, and network psychometrics in Chapter 6. The chapters start with the theory and methods of the measurement model and conclude with a real-data example illustrating the measurement model.







Language Loyalty, Continuity and Change


Book Description

This short volume provides a comprehensive and synoptic view of Joshua A. Fishman's contributions to international sociolinguistics. The two integrative essays provide readers with the essential understandings of Fishmanian sociolinguistics and his contributions to Yiddish scholarship. An up-to-date comprehensive bibliography prepared by Gella Schweid Fishman, as well as Fishman's own concluding sentiments, complement the integrative essays.




Researching Translation and Interpreting


Book Description

This volume offers a comprehensive view of current research directions in Translation and Interpreting Studies, outlining the theoretical concepts underpinning that research and presenting detailed discussions of the various methods used. Organized around three factors that are responsible for shaping the study of translation and interpreting today—post-positivist theoretical approaches, developments in the language industry, and technological innovations—this volume is divided into three parts: Part I introduces the basic concepts organizing translation and interpreting research, such as the difference between qualitative and quantitative research, between product-oriented and process-oriented studies, and between prescriptive and descriptive approaches. Part II provides a theoretical mapping of current translation and interpreting research, covering the theories underlying the current conceptualization of translation and interpreting, from queer studies to cognitive science. Part III explores the key methodological approaches to research in Translation and Interpreting Studies, including corpus-based, longitudinal, observational, and ethnographic studies, as well as survey and focus group-based studies. The international range of contributors are all leading research experts who use the methodologies in their work. They present the research aims of these methods, offer sample research questions that can—and cannot—be addressed by these methods, and discuss modes of data collection and analysis. This is an essential reference for all advanced undergraduates, postgraduates, and researchers in Translation and Interpreting Studies.