scales, validities, and reliability

A developmental psychologist is planning on conducting a study that involves watching children play together to determine how sharing behavior occurs in same-sex friend pairs compared to opposite-sex friend pairs. He decides to collect his data at a neighborhood park. He has his two research assistants pose as a married couple having a picnic. While having their picnic, they take detailed records of the sharing behavior of the children and note whether the pairs are same sex or opposite sex.

Given the psychologist's use of two research assistants, she must establish the ________ of their measure.

• interrater reliability

• convergent validity

• face validity

• test-retest reliability

When a scale has high ________ reliability, a participant provides a consistent pattern of responses, regardless of how the researcher has phrased the question.

• internal

• external

• statistical

• criterion

If we are measuring a variable that we know to be unstable over time (e.g., mood), what type of reliability would NOT be appropriate to evaluate?

• internal

• test-retest

• external

• interrater

An IQ test has multiple categories, allowing it to capture all of the different components of intelligence. This ensures what type of validity?

• convergent

• criterion

• content

• discriminant

For her research methods class, Serena plans to interview several teachers about their attitude toward teaching children who have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This is an example of what type of measurement?

• Self-report measurement

• Observational measurement

• Physiological measurement

• Archival measurement

For his research methods class, Felipe plans to watch how students treat other children in their classrooms who have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). He will evaluate how positively or negatively the children are treated by their classmates. This is an example of what type of measurement?

• Self-report measurement

• Observational measurement

• Physiological measurement

• Archival measurement

Naomi is studying the effect of popularity on academic success for her research methods project. To do this, she has elementary school students rate how popular each member of their class is. She then uses this information to rank the students on popularity (e.g., John is the most popular, Vanessa is the second-most popular). Which of the following best describes this variable?

• An interval scale of measurement

• A categorical measurement

• A self-report measurement

• An ordinal scale of measurement

Which of the following is NOT possible?

• A measure is neither reliable nor valid.

• A measure is both valid and reliable.

• A measure is reliable but not valid.

• A measure is valid but not reliable.

If a measurement looks like it is a plausible operationalization of a conceptual variable, then it has:

• interrater reliability

• subjectivity

• face validity

• credibility

Your friend Dominic is complaining about having to take the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), a test that is required to go to graduate school and is similar to the ACT and SAT. He complains, “Tests like the GRE don’t really measure how well people actually do in graduate school.” Dominic is questioning the ______________ of the test.

• discriminant validity

• content validity

• convergent validity

• criterion validity