1. Chapter 4
Measures - Stangor

2. Fundamentals of Measurement
Conceptual Variables – Words (self-esteem, parenting style, brain size, depression, cognitive development)
Measured Variables – Numbers that represent the conceptual variables

3. Operational Definition
Operational Definition – refers to a precise statement of how a conceptual variable is turned into a measured variable

5. Measurement Scales Ratio (multiply & divide) Interval (add & subtract)
Ordinal (ordered)
Nominal

6. Self-Report Measures
Free-Format Self-Report Measures – asking people to freely list their thoughts or feelings as these come to mind

7. Self-Report Measures Free-Format Self-Report Measures
Projective Measures – a measure of personality in which an unstructured image, such as an inkblot, is shown to participants, who are asked to freely list what comes to mind
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Rorschach Inkblots

8. Self-Report Measures Free-Format Self-Report Measures
Associative Lists – people are given lists of groups and asked to list whatever thoughts come to mind

9. Self-Report Measures Free-Format Self-Report Measures
Think-Aloud Protocols – in this procedure, participants are asked to verbalize into a recorder the thoughts that they are having as they complete a task

10. Self-Report Measures
Fixed-Format Self-Report Measures – on these measures, the participants are presented with a set of questions, and the responses that can be given are more structured than free-format measures
Example:
What is your gender: male___, female___, other___?

11. Self-Report Measures Fixed-Format Self-Report Measures
Likert Scales – the most popular type of fixed-format scale
Try to control for acquiescent responding (yeah-saying bias) – people who tend to agree with everything
Reverse Coding

13. Limitations in Self-Report Measures
People may not be able to accurately self-report on the causes of their behavior
People may not want to accurately self-report on the causes of their behavior
Reactivity – changes in responding that occur when individuals know the are being measured
Social Desirability & Self-Promotion

14. Behavioral Measures
An alternative to self-reports is to measure an actual behavior.

15. Advantages of Behavioral Measures
Behavioral measures do not involve direct questioning of people, therefore, they are often less reactive

16. Advantages of Behavioral Measures
Participants are particularly less reactive when:
They are not aware measurement is occurring
They are not aware what the measure is designed to assess
They cannot change their responses even if they desire

17. Behavioral Measures
Frequency – example: frequency of stuttering as a measure of anxiety in interpersonal relations
Duration – example: the number of minutes working at a task as a measure of task interest

18. Behavioral Measures
Intensity – example: how hard a person claps his or her hands as a measure of effort
Latency – example: the number of days before a person begins to work on a project as a measure of procrastination
Speed – example: how long it takes a mouse to complete a maze as a measure of learning

20. Nonreactive Measures
Used to assess attitudes that are unlikely to be directly expressed on self-report measures

21. Nonreactive Measures
Example: When participants interviewed people of different races, there were differences in how close they sat to the interviewees, made more speech errors, and terminated the interviews sooner

22. Psychophysiological Measures
Electroencephalogram (EEG)
Computer Assisted Tomography (CAT)
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

23. Electroencephalogram (EEG)

24. Computer Assisted Tomography (CAT)

25. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

26. Positron Emission Tomography (PET)

27. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

28. Electromyograph (EMG)

29. Heart Rate

30. Blood Pressure

31. Respiration Speed

32. Skin Temperature

33. Skin Conductance

34. Cortisol Levels

35. Multiple Measures (Mixed Measures)
The use of Self-Report Measures combined with Behavioral Measures (Psychophysiological Measures) provides superior validity