Modern Psychometrics: The Science of Psychological Assessment / Edition 4

by John Rust, Michal Kosinski, David Stillwell

Overview

This popular text introduces the reader to all aspects of psychometric assessment, including its history, the construction and administration of traditional tests, and the latest techniques for psychometric assessment online.

Rust, Kosinski, and Stillwell begin with a comprehensive introduction to the increased sophistication in psychometric methods and regulation that took place during the 20th century, including the many benefits to governments, businesses, and customers. In this new edition, the authors explore the increasing influence of the internet, wherein everything we do on the internet is available for psychometric analysis, often by AI systems operating at scale and in real time. The intended and unintended consequences of this paradigm shift are examined in detail, and key controversies, such as privacy and the psychographic microtargeting of online messages, are addressed. Furthermore, this new edition includes brand-new chapters on item response theory, computer adaptive testing, and the psychometric analysis of the digital traces we all leave online.

Modern Psychometrics combines an up-to-date scientific approach with full consideration of the political and ethical issues involved in the implementation of psychometric testing in today’s society. It will be invaluable to both undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as practitioners who are seeking an introduction to modern psychometric methods.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138638655
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/24/2020
Edition description:	Revised
Pages:	194
Product dimensions:	6.88(w) x 9.69(h) x (d)

About the Author

John Rust is the founder of The Psychometrics Centre at the University of Cambridge, UK. He is a Senior Member of Darwin College, UK, and an Associate Fellow of the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, University of Cambridge, UK.

Michal Kosinski is an associate professor of organizational behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business, USA.

David Stillwell is the academic director of the Psychometrics Centre at the University of Cambridge, UK. He is also a reader in computational social science at the Cambridge Judge Business School, UK.

Table of Contents

1. The history and evolution of psychometric testing

Introduction

What is psychometrics?

Psychometrics in the 21^st century

History of assessment

Chinese origins

The ability to learn

The nineteenth century

Beginnings of psychometrics as a science

Intelligence testing

Eugenics and the dark decades

Psychometric testing of ability

The dark ages come to an end

An abundance of abilities

Tests of other psychological constructs

Personality

Integrity

Interests

Motivation

Values

Temperament

Attitude

Belief

Summary

2. Constructing your own psychometric questionnaire

The purpose of the questionnaire

Making a blueprint

Writing items

Alternate-choice items

Multiple-choice items

Rating-scale items

All questionnaires

Knowledge-based questionnaires

Person-based questionnaires

Designing the questionnaire

Piloting the questionnaire

Item analysis

Facility

Discrimination

Distractors

Obtaining the reliability

Cronbach’s alpha

Split-half reliability

Assessing validity

Face validity

Content validity

Standardization

3. The Psychometric principles

Reliability

Test-retest reliability

Parallel-forms reliability

Split-half reliability

Interrater reliability

Internal consistency

The standard error of measurement (SEM)

Comparing test reliabilities

Restriction of range

Validity

Face validity

Content validity

Predictive validity

Concurrent validity

Construct validity

Differential validity

Standardization

Norm referencing

Criterion referencing

Equivalence

Differential item functioning

Measurement invariance

Adverse impact

Summary

4. Psychometric measurement

True-score theory

Identification of latent traits with factor analysis

Spearman’s two-factor theory

Vector algebra and factor rotation

Moving into more dimensions

Multidimensional scaling

Application of factor analysis to test construction

Eigenvalues

Identifying the number of factors to extract using the Kaiser criterion

Identifying the number of factors to extract using the Cattell scree test

Other techniques for identifying the number of factors to extract

Factor rotation

Rotation to simple structure

Orthogonal rotation

Oblique rotation

Limitations of the classical factor-analystic approach

Criticisms of psychometric measurement theory

The Platonic true score

Psychological vs. physical true scores

Functional assessment and competency testing

Machine learning and the black box

Summary

5. Item response theory and computer adaptive testing

Introduction

Item banks

The Rasch model

Assessment of educational standards

The Birnbaum model

The evolution of modern psychometrics

Computer adaptive testing

Item equating

Polytomous IRT

An intuitive graphical description of item tesponse theory

Limitations of classical test theory

A graphical Introduction to item response theory

The logistic curve

3PL-model: difficulty parameter

3PL model: discrimination parameter

3PL model: guessing parameter

The Fisher information function

The test information function and its relationship to the standard error of measurement

How to score an IRT test

Principles of computer adaptive testing

Summary of item response theory

Confirmatory factor analysis

6. Personality theory

Theories of personality

Psychoanalytic theory

Humanistic theory

Social learning theory

Behavioral genetics

Type and trait theories

Different approaches to personality assessment

Self-report techniques and personality profiles

Reports by others

Online digital footprints

Situational assessments

Projective measures

Observations of behavior

Task performance methods

Polygraph methods

Repertory grids

Sources and management of bias

Self-report techniques and personality profiles

Reports by others

Online digital footprints

Situational assessments

Projective measures

Observations of behavior

Task performance methods

Polygraph methods

Repertory grids

Informal methods of personality assessment

State versus trait measures

Ipsative scaling

Spurious validity and the Barnum Effect

Summary

7. Personality assessment in the workplace

Prediction of successful employment outcomes

Validation of personality questionnaires previously used in employment

Historical antecedents to the five-factor model

Stability of the five-factor model

Cross-cultural aspects of the five-factor model

Scale independence and the role of facets

Challenges to scale construction for the five-factor model

Impression management

Acquiescence

Response bias and factor structure

Development of the five OBPI personality scales

Assessing counterproductive behavior at work

The impact of behaviorism

Prepsychological theories of integrity

Modern integrity testing

Psychiatry and the medical model

The dysfunctional tendencies

The dark triad

Assessing integrity at work

The OBPI integrity scales

Conclusion

8. Employing digital footprints in psychometrics

Introduction

Types of digital footprint

Usage logs

Language data

Mobile sensors

Images and audiovisual data

Typical applications of digital footprints in psychometrics

Replacing and complimenting traditional measures

New contexts and new constructs

Predicting future behavior

Studying human behavior

Supporting the development of traditional measures

Advantages and challenges of employing digital footprints in psychometrics

High ecological validity

Greater detail and longitude

Less control over the assessment environment

Greater speed and unobtrusiveness

Less privacy and control

No anonymity

Bias

Enrichment of existing constructs


Developing digital-footprint-based psychometric measures
Collecting digital footprints

How much data is needed?

Preparing digital footprints for analysis

Respondent-footprint matrix

Data sparsity

Reducing the dimensionality of the respondent-footprint matrix

Singular value decomposition

Latent Dirichlet allocation

Building prediction models

9. Psychometrics in the era of the intelligent machine

History of computerization in psychometrics

Computerized statistics

Computerized item banks

Computerized item generation

Automated advice and report systems

The evolution of AI in psychometrics

Expert systems

Neural networks (machine learning)

Parallel processing

Predicting with statistics and machine learning

Explainability

Psychometrics in cyberspace

What and where is cyberspace?

The medium is the message

Moral development in AI

Kohlberg’s theory of moral development

Do machines have morals?

The laws of robotics

Artificial general intelligence

Conclusion

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Without assuming any prior knowledge of mathematics, nor of psychology, Modern Psychometrics 3rd Edition outlines the major issues in psychometrics and places them into context by reviewing past and current developments in intelligence research and personality theory. This will be an extraordinarily easy book to read for anyone who is interested in learning what psychometrics is about." Alberto Maydeu-Oliveras, University of Barcelona

"This text covers moral and ethical issues in psychometrics extensively. It is very readable and has extensive coverage of some topics that are only briefly mentioned in other texts." – Lauri Nummenmaa, University of Tampere

"A book that, contrary to all expectations, makes psychometrics readable and interesting. Special virtues include showing that statistical rigor cannot be detached from people's perceptions and that controversies, such as criterion versus norm based assessment or measuring traits versus the capacity to perform a role, dissolve when one designs a good test." - Professor James R. Flynn, author of What Is Intelligence?

Editorial Reviews

"There is a robust science for predicting and explaining what people do in any area of life, and this remarkable book, by three leading scholars, will forever change the way you think about human behavior: a true masterpiece!" – Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Columbia University, USA and University College, UK.

"Measurement is the foundation of all science, and Psychology is no exception. So, with its authoritative, updated, and comprehensive coverage of psychometrics, this volume is set to become the go-to guide for any serious psychological scientist." – Sam Gosling, University of Texas, USA.

"The science of psychometrics is already changing our lives. For better or worse, it will shape our digital futures. This welcome new edition to the classic introduction to the field could hardly be more timely. " – Huw Price, University of Cambridge, UK.

"There is a robust science for predicting and explaining what people do in any area of life, and this remarkable book, by three leading scholars, will forever change the way you think about human behavior: a true masterpiece!" – Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Columbia University, USA, and University College, UK

"Measurement is the foundation of all science, and psychology is no exception. So, with its authoritative, updated, and comprehensive coverage of psychometrics, this volume is set to become the go-to guide for any serious psychological scientist." – Sam Gosling, University of Texas, USA

"The science of psychometrics is already changing our lives. For better or worse, it will shape our digital futures. This welcome new edition to the classic introduction to the field could hardly be more timely. " – Huw Price, University of Cambridge, UK

From the Publisher

Rust (psychometrics, U. of London) and Golombok (psychology, City U., London) discuss the impact of the eugenics movement on psychometrics, and examine the reaction to this ideology in the 1970s and after. They also cover issues arising from the impact of computers on psychometrics, and provide a step-by-step guide for the development of a psychometric test. Nicely done and understandable--these people are committed to the democratization of knowledge. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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