Measure Paper

Goal: The goal of this assignment is to have you demonstrate an understanding of and apply
course concepts to a measure of interest to you professional.

Step 1: Identify an career or area of psychology that you'd like to explore further. If you're
career isn't directly related to psychology, that's fine! Please submit the agency you intend to
contact to Dr. Coy PRIOR to contacting them - in some cases I may have to ask you to
contact another agency/organization to avoid overloading one with requests for interviews.
Step 2: Contact someone working in your chosen career/area and conduct an "informational
interview" via phone or in person. If in person, you should prepare as if you were going on a
job interview and, in either case, be sure to be well prepared to discuss the position and have
questions prepared to ask about both the position and how they use measures (see
Informational Interview.doc document for guidance on this). If an informational interview
isn't possible, you'll need to meet with Dr. Coy to confirm and then conduct background
research on the field and career to identify a measure.
Step 3: Identify a measure and submit it for approval, include a brief (1 paragraph) summary
of why this particular measure is of interest.
Step 4: Identify resources that support/detract from the validity, reliability, and norms of the
measure. You should attempt to discuss all aspects of validity and reliability or present an
argument for why that particular aspect isn't relevant to your measure.
Step 5: Write the paper. This should include an introduction outlining the relevance and
significance of the measure to the field, possibly including a brief overview of a disorder or
area in which the measure is used, and ending with a clear thesis statement. Each "body"
paragraph should then address each aspect of valid/reliability/norms, providing a clear and
accurate summary of why they are or are not pertinent and providing precise evidence that
your measure does/doesn't meet recommended criteria. Underline each concept you discuss
(e.g., the researchers demonstrated construct validity by...). The conclusion should provide a
clear and accurate summary/overview and draw a fair, logical, and precise conclusion on
the usefulness of the measure and/or make a recommendation for how it should/shouldn't be
used.
Length: Approximately 4 to 8+ pages (4 is minimum number of pages a graduate-level
student would be able to complete this paper in; more than 8 pages likely means you have
details that are not important and should be cut. Note, these are simply guidelines - your
grade will be based exclusively on the quality of your paper).

Your paper should use correct APA style for the formatting of all aspects of the paper.
Your paper should have at least 5 references - unless approval to use fewer is provided by the
instructor.
Measure Paper Evaluation Criteria

Introduction – 5 points
- Do you address the significance and relevance of the scale and related concept?
- Do you provide a clear thesis statement that provides a rationale for investigating the
measure?
Body – 50 points (evidence/discussion of validity, reliability are worth 20 points, norms is
worth 10 points but evaluation of each is based on the same criterion described below)
- Do you provide clear, accurate, precise and relevant evidence for the reliability,
validity, and norms of the measure and/or address why given aspects of those concepts
are not addressed? (30 points)
- Do you provide a deep assessment of the evidence for reliability, validity, and norms of
the measure? That is, do you provide relevant information of when each of the three
components might be drawn into question for your particular measure? (10 points)
- Do you address how the fairness of the scale is (or is not) ensured (esp. as it relates to
bias and/or misuse of the measure)? If not, addressed in the development, what concerns
might exist? (10 points)
Conclusion – 10 points
- Do you provide clear and accurate summary/overview of the evidence discussed.
- Is your final assessment of the measure fair, logical, and precise – that is, does/do your
conclusion of usefulness and/or recommendations follow from the evidence provided and
clearly address the focus of your thesis statement?
Writing* – 5 points
- Is your writing clear and accurate and avoids confusing the reader?
APA Format – 5 points

*You may lose additional points for poor writing if mistakes impact the clarity or meaning
of the other sections.