Postgraduate Course: Applied Psychometrics (PSYL11106)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The course is a survey of topics related to psychological measurement as used in various real-world settings, psychometric theory and models, test construction, and the interpretation of results and test manuals. The course emphasizes the practical side of these topics, allowing those who complete the course to both construct psychological scales, present and interpret their key psychometric properties, and evaluate these properties when provided for other scales. |
| Course description |
This course surveys psychometric methodology and the process of scale design. The overall aim of the course is to provide students with an introductory understanding to the construction and evaluation of scales, and to be an educated reader of test manuals and development papers. Ultimately, it is intended that the course will provide the skills to make better decision on the selection and use of tests across a variety of research and applied settings.
The course will follow the process of scale development, first discussing the various different types of psychometric tests, common usage both in academia and in practice, and the fundamental goals of measurement. Next, we will consider construct definition and item writing, including test instructions and selection of response formats. We will discuss the evaluation and refinement of these item pools through content validation with subject matter experts and users and pilot studies. Follow this, we will introduce quantitative methods for scale evaluation including factor analytic and item response theories. We will contrast these tools and detail the different types of information they provide about the quality of a test. Next, we will consider the topics of reliability, validity and test bias. Finally, we will spend some time discussing the common practice of scoring and norming (normative samples, z-scores, stanines), a process designed to help the interpretation of test outcomes.
The course will be delivered via a mix of lecture, class discussion and group exercises. During the exercises, we will work with a number of established psychometric tools from across psychology, and critically evaluate the evidence present in the test manuals.
|
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2024/25, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
|
Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 11,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 11,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Report 1: Item generation - 30% (1500 words)
Report 2: Evidence evaluation - 70% |
| Feedback |
Students will receive verbal feedback during the practical sessions.
Students will receive feedback on first assessment in time for it to help them with the second.
Students will receive feedback on final assignment throughout the process, i.e., they will work on this in consultation with one of the people teaching the course.
|
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Describe and critically evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of different types of psychometric tests.
- Implement measure design procedures to define constructs and write appropriate items to assess psychological constructs.
- Understand statistical approaches used in developing psychometric tools and their implications for interpreting study results.
- Understand how to calculate and interpret different forms of test scores.
- Critically evaluate evidence for the quality of a measure.
|
Reading List
Main textbook (available electronically at no cost via the University Library)
Modern Psychometrics: The Science of Psychological Assessment by Rust J, Kosinski M, and Stillwell D.
For more detail, articles, especially guides, related to some of the topics.
|
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Skills:
Research and enquiry:
Problem solving in many professions, and especially those where assessment is used for various purpose. Knowing how to select a psychometrically good test, identify bad tests, and create tests is invaluable.
Designing/refining a measurement scale, including related analyses.
Understanding product (test) manuals.
Written/oral communication
Attributes:
The course will help students think and communicate. Often, tests and other products/services are chosen for no good reason Being able to describe and evaluate them tests and communicate their good and bad features is relevant in a lot of industries.
|
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Thomas Booth
Tel: (0131 6)50 8405
Email: Tom.Booth@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Olivia Coltman
Tel:
Email: ocoltman@ed.ac.uk |
|
|
University Homepage