Psychometrics is a broad term used to define the theory behind the use and practice of psychological assessments. Psychological assessments comprise the measurement of psychological constructs and how that information is used in a clinical setting to help formulate the clinical case and make treatment decisions. Psychometrics is also used in a forensic setting to answer questions about a person involved in the legal system, such as criminal prosecution or for a civil matter (e.g., custody dispute). Data from psychological assessments is also used to improve efficiency and overall functioning in an organizational setting.
Construct Development and Test Creation Paper
Throughout Weeks 3 and 4, we explored the properties of psychometric assessments. For this assignment, you will apply those principles to develop your own test to measure a psychological construct.
Imagine you are working as a research assistant and have been asked to develop a measurement construct to solve a problem or collect data.
Choose a construct you would like to measure (depression, anxiety, etc.).
Create an operational definition of your construct using at least 3 peer-reviewed journal articles as references (you can use the DSM as a scholarly source to define your construct, but please do not use websites).
Create a 10-question test to measure the construct.
Write a 1,100word analysis in which you:
- Justify whether this is an interview or self-report instrument and the method of scaling you used to create the test items.
- Describe the methods you used for item selection and how item selection was evaluated.
- Describe how you would norm this instrument. For your description, you should:
- Discuss how many people you would give it to.
- Describe the characteristics that your respondents would have (gender, age, SES, etc.).
- Explain to whom the instrument would be generalized.
- Describe how you would establish reliability.
- Describe how you would establish validity.