MODULE 3: The Science of Psychological Measurement

OBJECTIVES
SCALES OF
MEASUREMENT
What Kinds of Scales are Available?
 RELATIVE SCORES - Scores related
to how others perform

RELATIVE 4 KINDS OF SCALES AVAILABLE:

SCORES AND NOMINAL

THE 4 KINDS OF
SCALES ORDINAL

INTERVAL

RATIO
NOMINAL SCALE
ORDINAL SCALE
INTERVAL SCALE
Is the temperature
Kelvin an interval
scale?
NO, KELVIN IS NOT AN EXAMPLE OF ORDINAL SCALE
RATIO SCALE
DESCRIBING AND
ANALYZING DATA
HOW TO DESCRIBE DATA USING THE FOUR SCALES OF
MEASUREMENT
TYPE OF SCALE DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
Frequency distribution;
NOMINAL Mode
Frequency distribution;
ORDINAL Mode and/or Median;
Range
Frequency distribution;
INTERVAL Mean, Median and Mode;
Range, Standard Deviation & Variance
Frequency distribution;
Mean, Median and Mode;
RATIO Range, Standard Deviation & Variance;
Coefficient of variation
 HOW TO ANALYZE DATA USING THE FOUR SCALES OF
MEASUREMENT
TYPE OF SCALE TYPE OF TEST STATISTICAL TEST
Chi-square goodness of fit test
NOMINAL Non-Parametric
Chi-square test of independence
Mood’s median test
Mann-Whitney U-test
Wilcoxon matched pairs signed-rank test
ORDINAL Non-Parametric Kruskal-Wallis H test (test of difference)
Kruskal-Gamma
Spearman’s rho (rank correlation efficient)
Kendall Tau
INTERVAL Parametric T-test
ANOVA
RATIO Parametric Pearson’s r
Simple linear regression
DISTRIBUTION
A distribution may be defined as
a set of test scores arrayed for
recording or study.
As its name implies, a raw score
is a straightforward, unmodified
accounting of performance that
is usually numerical. A raw score
may reflect a simple tally, as in
number of items responded to
correctly on an achievement test.
FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION

Grouped
Simple Frequency
Frequency
Distribution
Distribution
GRAPH
HISTOGRAM
BAR GRAPH
OGIVE GRAPH
FREQUENCY POLYGON
MEASURES OF
CENTRAL
TENDENCY
MEASURES OF
CENTRAL
TENDENCY
MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY
Measuring the Central Tendency in each
Scale of Measurement
LET’S TRY!
FIND THE MEAN, MEDIAN, AND MODE
LET’S TRY!
LET’S TRY!
LET’S TRY!
MEASURES
OF
VARIABILITY
MEASURES OF VARIABILITY
RANGE
STANDARD DEVIATION
INTERQUARTILE AND
SEMI-QUARTILE RANGES
SKEWNESS
SKEWNESS

Test is too difficult Test is too easy

KURTOSIS
KURTOSIS
Somewhere in the middle

Relatively peaked

Relatively flat
THE NORMAL CURVE (GAUSSIAN
CURVE)
This graph also illustrates the following
characteristics of all normal distributions.
■ 50% of the scores occur above the mean
and 50% of the scores occur below the mean.
■ Approximately 34% of all scores occur
between the mean and standard deviation
above the mean.
■ Approximately 34% of all scores occur
between the mean and 1 standard deviation
below the mean.
■ Approximately 68% of all scores occur
between the mean and ±1 standard deviation.
■ Approximately 95% of all scores occur
between the mean and ±2 standard
deviations.
A normal curve has two tails. The area on the
normal curve between 2 and 3 standard

THE AREA UNDER NORMAL CURVE

STANDARD SCORES
Z SCORES

Score Mean

SD
Z SCORES
TRY THIS!

Niece’s birth Mean birth Standard

weight (x): 6.9 weight (𝝻): 7.224 deviation (𝞂):
pounds or 3130 pounds or 3276 1.25 pounds or
grams grams 567 grams
TRY THIS!
Niece’s birth Mean birth Standard
weight (x): 6.9 weight (𝝻): 7.224 deviation (𝞂):
pounds or 3130 pounds or 3276 1.25 pounds or
grams grams 567 grams

3130 grams - 3276 gram = -146 grams

-146 grams / 567 grams = -0.26
Z-score = -0.26
TRY THIS!
TRY THIS!
T SCORES
TRY THIS!
TRY THIS!

The z-score for the data in this example question is .354.

10 * .354 = 3.54.
3.54 + 50 = 53.54.
STANINE
TRY THIS!
TRY THIS!

µ = 168cm and σ = 3cm

Z = (163-168)/3 = -1.67
Hence, Stanine score = 2 which means that John has a
much smaller height compared to the average.
CORRELATION AND INFERENCE
CORRELATION COEFFICIENT

Correlation is often confused

with causation. It must be
emphasized that a correlation
coefficient is merely an index of Although correlation does not
the relationship between two imply causation, there is an
variables, not an index of the implication of prediction.
causal relationship between two
variables.
PEARSON r
SPEARMAN RHO
SCATTERPLOT
META-ANALYSIS
FINALLY!
REFERENCES