Measures of Personality and Social Psychological Constructs


Book Description

Measures of Personality and Social Psychological Constructs assists researchers and practitioners by identifying and reviewing the best scales/measures for a variety of constructs. Each chapter discusses test validity, reliability, and utility. Authors have focused on the most often used and cited scales/measures, with a particular emphasis on those published in recent years. Each scale is identified and described, the sample on which it was developed is summarized, and reliability and validity data are presented, followed by presentation of the scale, in full or in part, where such permission has been obtained. Measures fall into five broad groups. The emotional disposition section reviews measures of general affective tendencies, and/or cognitive dispositions closely linked to emotion. These measures include hope and optimism, anger and hostility, life satisfaction, self-esteem, confidence, and affect dimensions. Emotion regulation scales go beyond general dispositions to measure factors that may contribute to understanding and managing emotions. These measures include alexithymia, empathy, resiliency, coping, sensation seeking, and ability and trait emotional intelligence. The interpersonal styles section introduces some traditional social–psychological themes in the context of personality assessment. These measures include adult attachment, concerns with public image and social evaluation, and forgiveness. The vices and virtues section reflects adherence to moral standards as an individual characteristic shaped by sociocultural influences and personality. These measures include values and moral personality, religiosity, dark personalities (Machiavellianism,narcissism, and subclinical psychopathy), and perfectionism. The sociocultural interaction and conflict section addresses relationships between different groups and associated attitudes. These measures include cross-cultural values, personality and beliefs, intergroup contact, stereotyping and prejudice, attitudes towards sexual orientation, and personality across cultures. Encompasses 25 different areas of psychology research Each scale has validity, reliability info, info on test bias, etc Multiple scales discussed for each construct Discussion of which scales are appropriate in which circumstances and to what populations Examples of scales included




Measured Constructs


Book Description

This volume establishes how English language constructs were measured in Cambridge English examinations over the period 1913 to 2012. An addition to the Studies in Language Testing series, this volume provides an overview of English language testing over the last century, with coverage of key theoretical and practical aspects of the assessment of reading, listening, writing and speaking skills. It includes examples of the Cambridge English exams, old and new, and is the first volume to describe in a systematic way the different theoretical influences which have shaped the development of the constructs underlying Cambridge English exams in the last 100 years.




Measuring Psychological Constructs


Book Description

More than a half-century has passed since Cronbachs distinction between the correlational and experimental approaches in psychology. Yet measurement today is not much better integrated with psychological theory than it was in the late 1950s, and many argue that the traditional psychometric model itself may have introduced constraints that have limited the integration of measurement and theory. Measuring Psychological Constructs seeks to break through these constraints by offering conceptual alternatives to traditional item-response theorys fixed-content/multiple-choice models. This edited volumes contributors present groundbreaking explanatory approaches to model-based measurement that provide various psychological constructs with more authentic measures such as constructed-response tasks and performance assessment. These new explanatory approaches not only extend rigorous psychometric methods to a variety of major psychological constructs, but also have the potential to change fundamentally the nature of the constructs that are being measured. Grounded in psychometrics and quantitative assessment, and in the history and major theoretical approaches of psychology, Measuring Psychological Constructs is aimed at students, teachers, researchers, and practitioners alike, in variety of psychology subdisciplines that include developmental and geriatric, industrial/organizational, clinical and counseling, educational, social and personality, experimental, neuropsychology, health and rehabilitation, and quantitative psychology.




The Role of Constructs in Psychological and Educational Measurement


Book Description

Contributors to the volume represent an international "who's who" of research scientists from the fields of psychology and measurement. It offers the insights of these leading authorities regarding cognition and personality. In particular, they address the roles of constructs and values in clarifying the theoretical and empirical work in these fields, as well as their relation to educational assessment. It is intended for professionals and students in psychology and assessment, and almost anyone doing research in cognition and personality.




Social Science Research


Book Description

This book is designed to introduce doctoral and graduate students to the process of conducting scientific research in the social sciences, business, education, public health, and related disciplines. It is a one-stop, comprehensive, and compact source for foundational concepts in behavioral research, and can serve as a stand-alone text or as a supplement to research readings in any doctoral seminar or research methods class. This book is currently used as a research text at universities on six continents and will shortly be available in nine different languages.




Applying Partial Least Squares in Tourism and Hospitality Research


Book Description

Ten chapters discuss key aspects of advanced PLS analysis and its practical applications, covering new guidelines and improvements in the use of PLS-PM as well as various individual topics.




The Role of Constructs in Psychological and Educational Measurement


Book Description

This volume is comprised of papers presented at an ETS conference in 1997. It reviews insights of leading authorities regarding cognition and personality as domains of human functions to provide groundwork for education reforms.




Constructing Measures


Book Description

Constructing Measures introduces a way to understand the advantages and disadvantages of measurement instruments. It explains the ways to use such instruments, and how to apply these methods to develop new instruments or adapt old ones, based on item response modeling and construct references. Now in its second edition, this book focuses on the steps taken while constructing an instrument, and breaks down the "building blocks" that make up an instrument—the construct map, the design plan for the items, the outcome space, and the statistical measurement model. The material covers a variety of item formats, including multiple-choice, open-ended, and performance items, projects, portfolios, Likert and Guttman items, behavioral observations, and interview protocols. Each chapter includes an overview of the key concepts, related resources for further investigation, and exercises and activities. A variety of examples from the behavioral and social sciences and education—including achievement and performance testing, attitude measures, health measures, and general sociological scales—demonstrate the application of the material. New to this edition are additional example contexts including a cognitive/achievement example, an attitude example, and a behavioral example and new concentrations on specific measurement issues and practices such as standard-setting, computer-delivery and reporting, and going beyond the Likert response format. Constructing Measures is an invaluable text for undergraduate and graduate courses on item, test, or instrument development; measurement; item response theory; or Rasch analysis taught in a variety of departments, including education, statistics, and psychology. The book also appeals to practitioners who develop instruments, including industrial/organizational, educational, and school psychologists; health outcomes researchers; program evaluators; and sociological measurers.




Educational and Psychological Measurement


Book Description

This new text provides the most current coverage of measurement and psychometrics in a single volume. Authors W. Holmes Finch and Brian F. French first review the basics of psychometrics and measurement, before moving on to more complex topics such as equating and scaling, item response theory, standard setting, and computer adaptive testing. Also included are discussions of cutting-edge topics utilized by practitioners in the field, such as automated test development, game-based assessment, and automated test scoring. This book is ideal for use as a primary text for graduate-level psychometrics/measurement courses, as well as for researchers in need of a broad resource for understanding test theory. Features: "How it Works" and "Psychometrics in the Real World" boxes break down important concepts through worked examples, and show how theory can be applied to practice. End-of-chapter exercises allow students to test their comprehension of the material, while suggested readings and website links provide resources for further investigation. A collection of free online resources include the full output from R, SPSS, and Excel for each of the analyses conducted in the book, as well as additional exercises, sample homework assignments, answer keys, and PowerPoint lecture slides.




A Principled Approach to Language Assessment


Book Description

The United States is formally represented around the world by approximately 14,000 Foreign Service officers and other personnel in the U.S. Department of State. Roughly one-third of them are required to be proficient in the local languages of the countries to which they are posted. To achieve this language proficiency for its staff, the State Department's Foreign Service Institute (FSI) provides intensive language instruction and assesses the proficiency of personnel before they are posted to a foreign country. The requirement for language proficiency is established in law and is incorporated in personnel decisions related to job placement, promotion, retention, and pay. A Principled Approach to Language Assessment: Considerations for the U.S. Foreign Service Institute evaluates the different approaches that exist to assess foreign language proficiency that FSI could potentially use. This report considers the key assessment approaches in the research literature that are appropriate for language testing, including, but not limited to, assessments that use task-based or performance-based approaches, adaptive online test administration, and portfolios.