I.
Measurement Issues
A.
Behavior can be described in a variety of ways…
B. Constructs and the problem of measurement
1.
Hypotheses and constructs (ideas).
2.
operational definitions and conceptual definitions
Discussion
Name some constructs that cannot be seen but that are important to our
everyday lives. How would you
go about operationally defining these in an experiment? How does an
operational definition limit our understanding of a construct?
C. Scales of measurement
1.
Nominal (or categorical)
2.
Ordinal
3.
Interval
4.
Ratio
D.
Measurement Error
II.
Evaluating
measures
A.
Reliability
1.
Test-retest
2.
Split-half
3.
Inter-observer agreement
How
to increase reliability?
B.
Validity
1.
Face validity
2.
Construct validity
3.
Criterion validity/Predictive validity
DISCUSSION: Measuring “social interaction”
III.
Making decisions about data collection
A. WHERE will we conduct our research?
Things to consider:
1.
Control versus “naturalness”
2. What is my question?
3.
How do I wish to generalize my results?
B. HOW will we collect our data?
