Class 3 Thursday, Sept. 16.ppt

Class 3: Thursday, Sept. 16 Reliability and Validity of Measurements Introduction to Regression Analysis Simple Linear Regression (2.3) Correlation and Reliability of Measurements Measurement theory: Branch of applied statistics that attempts to describe, categorize, evaluate and improve the quality of measurements. Measurement theory for psychological attributes such as intellectual ability or personality is called psychometrics. Reliability of a measurement: The degree of consistency with which a trait or attribute is measured. A perfectly reliable measurement will produce the same value each time assuming the trait or attribute remains constant. Validity of a measurement: The degree to which a measurement measures what it purports to measure. The reliability of a measurement is often determined by the correlation between repeated measurements of the same trait/attribute. Reliability of Pulse Measurement Types of Reliability External reliability (stability): Does the measurement vary from one use to another? Internal reliability (Internal consistency): Is the measurement consistent within itself? Checking external reliability: Test-retest method. Correlation between the scores of the same people on two different administrations of test (e.g., pulse measurement). Checking internal reliability of a test: Split-half method. Randomly split a test into two halves. Compute correlation of scores on two halves. Validity Validity of a measurement: The degree to which a measurement measures what it purports to measure. To what extent is one’s pulse a valid measure of one’s general state of health. What time did you go to bed last night? Is it reliable as a measure of when you went to bed last night? Is it reliable as a measure of your average bed time? Is it valid as a measure of what time you actually went to bed? Is it valid as a measure of time spent studying? Evidence for Validity of a Test Face validity: Definition: Items on a test should look like they a