An Introduction to Psychological Tests and Scales

by Lewis; Christopher Alan

• ISBN13: 9781841691398
• ISBN10: 1841691399
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2001-06-22
• Publisher: Psychology Pres

Summary

In its first edition this book successfully enabled readers, with little or no prior knowledge of computing or statistics, to develop reliable and valid tests and scales for assessment or research purposes. In this edition, the author has thoroughly updated the text to include new recent advances in computer software and provide information on relevant internet resources. The book contains detailed guidelines for locating and constructing psychological measures, including descriptions of popular psychological measures and step-by-step instructions for composing a measure, entering data and computing reliability and validity of test results. Advanced techniques such as factor analysis, analysis of covariance and multiple regression analysis are presented for the beginner. An Introduction to Psychological Tests and ScalesScales provides a clear, concise and jargon-free primer for all those embarking on fieldwork or research analysis. It will be an invaluable tool for undergraduates andpostgraduates in psychology and a useful text for students and professionals in related disciplines.

Table of Contents

Foreword	viii
Preface	x
Acknowledgements	xii
What is a good psychological measure?	1	(20)
The aims of this book	1	(1)
Features of good psychological measure	2	(18)
Summary	20	(1)
A guide to finding and using existing tests and scales	21	(9)
Finding the scale	22	(6)
Pros and cons of using an existing scale	28	(1)
Using the scale	28	(1)
Summary	29	(1)
Writing	30	(12)
Defining what you want to measure	30	(2)
Collecting items	32	(3)
Producing the preliminary questionaire or test	35	(6)
Summary	41	(1)
Testing	42	(11)
Deciding on a sample and reducing sample bias	42	(6)
Recruiting methods	48	(2)
Testing	50	(2)
Summary	52	(1)
Data and preliminary analysis	53	(15)
Coding, scoring, and data entry	53	(6)
Selecting reliable items	59	(5)
Descriptive statistics (norms) for the final scale	64	(1)
Summary of steps for data entry and reliability	64	(1)
Factor and principal components analyses	65	(2)
Summary	67	(1)
The final scale and its validation	68	(87)
Descriptive statistics (norms)	68	(1)
Validity	68	(7)
Presenting the scale	75	(1)
Summary	76	(1)
APPENDICES
Appendix to Chapter 1 Examples of test and scale presentation	77	(9)
Example 1. Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI)	77	(2)
Example 2. Individual Responsibility (IR) measure	79	(3)
Example 3. Structure of Prayer Scale	82	(1)
Example 4. Quality of Cognitive Therapy Scale (CTS)	83	(3)
Appendix to Chapter 2 Selecting tests	86	(28)
2.1 Guidelines for psychological testing	86	(5)
2.2 Publishers of psychological tests	91	(1)
2.3 Measures included in the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) portfolios	92	(5)
2.4 The British Psychological Society's Certificates of Competence in Occupational Testing	97	(1)
2.5 Some useful tests: An introductory review	98	(16)
Appendix to Chapter 4 Ethical guidelines	114	(5)
4.1 The Australian Psychological Society's Guidelines for the use of Psychological tests	114	(2)
4.2 Conducting an individual testing session	116	(1)
4.3 Feedback	116	(1)
4.4 Ethical Committee of Royal Holloway University of London: Notes for guidance	117	(1)
4.5 Guidelines for medical research	118	(1)
Appendix to Chapter 5 Reliability	119	(24)
5.1 Types of data, coding, and statistics	120	(2)
5.2 An example of coding	122	(2)
5.3 Making and checking a database in SPSS for Windows	124	(9)
5.4 Reliability analysis in SPSS for Windows	133	(2)
5.5 Improving reliability	135	(3)
5.6 Factor and principal components analyses in SPSS for Windows	138	(5)
Appendix to Chapter 6 Computation and validity	143	(12)
6.1 Computing total scores on your measure	143	(1)
6.2 Criterion validity using an unrelated t-test	144	(3)
6.3 Concurrent validity: Using SPSS to calculate correlations	147	(2)
6.4 Criterion and predictive validity: One-way analysis of variance in SPSS, including comparisons between groups	149	(3)
6.5 Confounded variables: Loglinear analysis, logistic regression, analysis of covariance, and multiple regression analysis	152	(3)
Bibliography	155	(8)
Useful web sites	163	(2)
Author index	165	(3)
Subject index	168