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







The 71F Advantage


Book Description

Includes a foreword by Major General David A. Rubenstein. From the editor: "71F, or "71 Foxtrot," is the AOC (area of concentration) code assigned by the U.S. Army to the specialty of Research Psychology. Qualifying as an Army research psychologist requires, first of all, a Ph.D. from a research (not clinical) intensive graduate psychology program. Due to their advanced education, research psychologists receive a direct commission as Army officers in the Medical Service Corps at the rank of captain. In terms of numbers, the 71F AOC is a small one, with only 25 to 30 officers serving in any given year. However, the 71F impact is much bigger than this small cadre suggests. Army research psychologists apply their extensive training and expertise in the science of psychology and social behavior toward understanding, preserving, and enhancing the health, well being, morale, and performance of Soldiers and military families. As is clear throughout the pages of this book, they do this in many ways and in many areas, but always with a scientific approach. This is the 71F advantage: applying the science of psychology to understand the human dimension, and developing programs, policies, and products to benefit the person in military operations. This book grew out of the April 2008 biennial conference of U.S. Army Research Psychologists, held in Bethesda, Maryland. This meeting was to be my last as Consultant to the Surgeon General for Research Psychology, and I thought it would be a good idea to publish proceedings, which had not been done before. As Consultant, I'd often wished for such a document to help explain to people what it is that Army Research Psychologists "do for a living." In addition to our core group of 71Fs, at the Bethesda 2008 meeting we had several brand-new members, and a number of distinguished retirees, the "grey-beards" of the 71F clan. Together with longtime 71F colleagues Ross Pastel and Mark Vaitkus, I also saw an unusual opportunity to capture some of the history of the Army Research Psychology specialty while providing a representative sample of current 71F research and activities. It seemed to us especially important to do this at a time when the operational demands on the Army and the total force were reaching unprecedented levels, with no sign of easing, and with the Army in turn relying more heavily on research psychology to inform its programs for protecting the health, well being, and performance of Soldiers and their families."




The United States Catalog


Book Description







Encyclopedia of Psychological Assessment


Book Description

′once you let a clinical psychologist lay hands on this book, it is quite difficult to get it back again′ - Martin Guha, Librarian, Institute of Psychiatry, London The Encyclopedia of Psychological Assessment is a landmark reference work and constitutes a definitive resource for academics, practitioners and students working in any field of applied psychological science. Psychological assessment is a key component of psychological work. Devices of scientific assessment are necessary for adequate describing, diagnosis, predicting, explaining or changing the behaviour of all subjects under examination. This double-volume collection offers complete coverage to facilitate action in each of these areas and will consequently be invaluable to psychologists in any applied setting. The two volumes of the Encyclopedia of Psychological Assessment contain a series of 235 entries, organized alphabetically, and covering a variety of fields. Each entry includes a general conceptual and methodological overview, a section on relevant assessment devices, followed by links to related concepts in the Encyclopedia and a list of references. The Encyclopedia of Psychological Assessment provides: - A comprehensive network for psychological assessment as a conceptual and methodological discipline, and as a professional activity - An overview of the complexity of assessment, which involves not only testing, but also a process of decision-making for answering relevant questions that arise in the different applied fields - A presentation of relevant issues from basic theory (theoretical perspectives, ethics) and methodology (validity, reliability, item response theory) to technology and modes of assessment (tests, instruments and equipment for measuring behavioral operations) - An attempt to unify this diverse field by offering full coverage of all areas from the most traditional, such as clinical, educational and work and organizational psychology, to the most recent applications linked to health, gerontology, neuropsychology, psychophysiology and environmental assessment. The Encyclopedia of Psychological Assessment offers a truly international perspective, both in terms of the selected authors and chosen entries. It aims to provide an integrated view of assessment, bringing together knowledge dispersed throughout several methodological and applied fields, but united in terms of its relevance for assessment. It is an essential purchase for any library with an existing collection or concern with the field of psychological science in general.







What Intelligence Tests Miss


Book Description

Critics of intelligence tests writers such as Robert Sternberg, Howard Gardner, and Daniel Goleman have argued in recent years that these tests neglect important qualities such as emotion, empathy, and interpersonal skills. However, such critiques imply that though intelligence tests may miss certain key noncognitive areas, they encompass most of what is important in the cognitive domain. In this book, Keith E. Stanovich challenges this widely held assumption.Stanovich shows that IQ tests (or their proxies, such as the SAT) are radically incomplete as measures of cognitive functioning. They fail to assess traits that most people associate with good thinking, skills such as judgment and decision making. Such cognitive skills are crucial to real-world behavior, affecting the way we plan, evaluate critical evidence, judge risks and probabilities, and make effective decisions. IQ tests fail to assess these skills of rational thought, even though they are measurable cognitive processes. Rational thought is just as important as intelligence, Stanovich argues, and it should be valued as highly as the abilities currently measured on intelligence tests.




Personality


Book Description

Organized around the personality systems framework, this text offers students a clear and engaging introduction to the study of personality. The second edition integrates cutting-edge research and provides a comprehensive road map toward understanding (1) what personality is; (2) what personality’s major subsystems are by breaking down motivation, emotion, cognition, and self; (3) how personality’s parts are organized; and (4) how personality develops and changes over time. New and Updated Features: Engaging case examples throughout each chapter bring concepts to life. Valuable study aids, including chapter-opening big picture questions, review questions, and glossary reinforce each chapter’s main topics. A fresh design incorporates new figures and tables. A new learning package designed to enhance the experience of both instructors and students includes a test bank, a Respondus test bank, and a companion website. This book is accompanied by a learning package designed to enhance the experience of both instructors and students. Test Bank. For every chapter in the text, the Test Bank includes multiple choice questions in a variety of skill levels and organized by chapter topic. The Test Bank is available to adopters in Word, PDF or Respondus formats. Our Test Bank is most flexibly used in Respondus, test authoring software which is available in two forms. Check with your university to see if you have a site license to the full program, Respondus 4.0, which offers the option to upload your tests to any of the most popular course management systems such as Blackboard. If you don’t have a Respondus license or do not care about having your tests in a course management system, you can use our test bank file in Respondus LE. The LE program is free and can be used to automate the process of creating tests in print format. • Visit the Respondus Test Bank Network to download the test bank for either Respondus 4.0 or Respondus LE. • If you prefer to use our Test Bank in Word or PDF, please Sign-In if you are a registered user, or Register then email us at [email protected] . Companion Website. Accompanying the text is an open-access Companion Website designed to reinforce the main topics. For each chapter, flash cards, self-quizzes, and additional review resources help students master the information they learn in the classroom. Students can access the Companion Website from their computer or mobile device at textbooks.rowman.com/mayer2e.