Ordinal measurement in the behavioral sciences / Norman Cliff, John A. Keats.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cliff, Norman, 1930-

Contributor:

Keats, J. A. (John Augustus)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Psychology--Mathematical models.

Psychology.

Social sciences--Statistical methods.

Social sciences.

Analysis of variance.

Psychological tests--Statistical methods.

Psychological tests.

Physical Description:

x, 230 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Mahwah, N.J. : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2003.

Summary:

Book provides background of ordinal theory used to assess psych tests and scales used to assist the interpretation of data.

Contents:

1. The Purpose of Psychological Assessment 1

New Myths and Old Rules 2

This Book's Motivation 4

Some Historical Background of Testing 5

Testing in Developing Countries 14

The Evolution of Physical and Psychological Measurement Theory 14

The Development of Test Theory and Practice 15

Mathematical Models in Testing 16

Ordinal Concepts as a Basis for Measurement 22

Antitest Arguments 23

2. What Makes a Variable a Scale? 25

Scales and Variables 25

The Nature of Scientific Scales 26

Relevance to Scales and Measurement Methods 33

General Principles of Scientific Measurement 34

A Fundamental Typology of Data 38

Mental Tests and Data Relations 41

3. Types of Assessment 43

A Classification of Test Items 43

Standard Scores 44

Free-Answer With Dichotomous Scoring Assessments 46

Free Response With Polytomous Items 46

Creative Responses 49

Multiple-Choice Items Dichotomously Scored 52

Multiple-Choice Tests With Polytomous Scoring 53

Types of Item Presentation 54

4. Item Scores and Their Addition to Obtain Total Test Scores in the Case of Dichotomous Items 57

Ordinal Measurement 57

Tied-Ranks Scores 59

Evaluating Items, Tests and Scales 60

Combining Item Scores for Dichotomous Items 62

5. Item Scores and Their Addition to Obtain Total Test Scores in the Case of Polytomous Items 71

Scoring Polytomous Items 71

Types of Polytomous Items 76

Polytomous Items Scored Across Persons 80

6. Dominance Analysis of Tests 83

Dominance Relations 83

Pseudo-Orders From Randomness 84

How Dichotomous Items Define an Order 85

Data Basic to Assessing Consistency 89

Measures of Test Consistency 95

Ordinal Validity and Reliability 101

Item-Universe and Score-Universe Relations 107

7. Approaches to Ordering Things and Stimuli 113

One-Set Dominance 113

Finding the Order 116

Less Simple Orders 118

Empirically Defining and Evaluating Dominance 123

Testing the Dominance Axioms 124

Assessing Transitivity 126

Intersubject Consistency 130

Finding the Order in Complete Data 135

8. Alternatives to Complete Paired Comparisons 143

Datasets Are Often Incomplete 143

Planned Subsets of Pairs 144

Implied Order Relations 148

Partial Ranking Methods 158

Rating Scales 159

9. The Unfolding Model 162

Analyzing Orders 164

Unfolding of Orders Versus Analysis of Interstimulus Distances 169

Comparison Between Multidimensional Unfolding Analysis and Factor Analysis of Correlated Variables 172

Some Applications of the Unfolding Model 174

Dichotomous Data 177

10. The Application of Ordinal Test Theory to Items in Tests Used in Cross-Cultural Comparisons 181

Intercultural Comparability of Scores 181

International Test Commission Guidelines 184

Comparing Populations 186

The Role of Ordinal Test Theory 188

Multilevel Responses 188

Appendix A Flow Chart for a Program to Carry Out a Complete Item Analysis of Items in a Test or Scale Using a Small Personal Computer 194.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 212-217) and indexes.

ISBN:

0805820930

OCLC:

51197050