Basic Concepts in

Measurement & Statistics

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Defining Measurement
Psychological measurement is the process
of assigning numbers (that is, test scores)
to people.

Scales of measurement;
Nominal scales
Ordinal scales
Interval scales
Ratio scales

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Scales of Measurement
Nominal scales (in name only)
 (e.g., eye color, gender, ethnicity)

Ordinal scales (ordering)

 (e.g., ranking according to height)

Interval scales (equal distances)

 (e.g., calendar years)

Ratio scales (absolute zero)

 (e.g., weight in pounds, age

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Scales of Measurement

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Scales of Measurement

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Distribution
A distribution is a set of scores

Normal distribution: A theoretical

distribution with a symmetrical shape and
the highest frequency concentrated in the
middle.

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Distribution

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Distribution
A distribution is a set of scores

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 Distribution

Negatively Skewed. Positively Skewed.

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Distribution

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Distribution

Positively Skewed.

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Evaluating Psychological Tests
Reliability: A reliable test yields consistent scores
when a examinee takes two alternate forms of the test
or when s/he takes the same test on two or more
different occasions.

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Evaluating Psychological Tests
Validity
Validity of measurement
 Whether the test adequately measures what it purports to
measure.
 If this is the case, an intelligent person should receive higher

scores than do less intelligent people.

Validity of decisions
 A valid test is useful for making accurate decisions about
individuals.

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Statistical concepts
3 major concepts:
Variability
 Allows us to measure and describe the extent to which test
scores differ.
 Computing the difference between each person’s score and the

mean.

 A large variance indicates that individual scores often differ

from the mean.
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Variability

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Statistical concepts
Variability
 One application of the standard deviation is to form standard
scores, z scores.

 A (+) z score means that you are above the mean.

score frequency Z scores
4 4 mean=2.6
3 6 sd=.94
2 8
1 2
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Statistical concepts
Correlation
 are often illustrated by using scatterplot.
Aptitude scores
and grades

Correlation coefficient
describes the strength
and direction of a
relationship between
variables.

 a[

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Correlation

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Correlation

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Statistical concepts
r = .90 Strong, positive correlation
r = - .85 Strong, negative correlation
r = .21 Weak, positive correlation
r = -.10 Weak, negative correlation

 Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient

 When variables are on an interval or ratio scale.
 Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient
 When the variables are on an ordinal scale
 Point-Biserial Correlation Coefficient
 One variable dichotomous; one on an interval or ratio scale

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Statistical concepts
Prediction
 We can predict one’s behavior from test scores.

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Prediction
Linear Regression allows you to predict values
on one variable given information on another
variable.
Note: Y = a + bX when a = 10 and b
= 0.5. For example, if X is 30, then Y
= 10 + (0.5)30 = 25.

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Prediction
Percentile
The point below which a specified percentage
of the observations fall.
If a student’s IQ score (130, z= 2) is at 98 th
percentile, 98% of the IQ scores are below
this score. Student’s score is better than 98%
of the all students.

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Percentile

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Percentile

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Scales & Transformations

Comparing scales
A score of 4 on a 5-point scale.
What is the equivalent score of it on a 7-point scale?

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Scales & Transformations
Raw scores do not tell whether the subject did
well.
 Need more interpretable scores

Characteristics of transformations:
 Doesn’t change a person’s score, just expresses it in
a different way.
 Takes into account information not contained in the

raw scores itself.

 Expresses the scores in more interpretable units.

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Linear Transformations
Changing number(s) by adding (+),
substracting (-), multiplying (x) or dividing (/)

Transformed score= constant + (weight x raw

score)

Most familiar linear transformation is z score

 Z=(X-M)/SD
 Easy to interpret (- and + scores), can be easily

converted to percentiles.
 Negative scores, have fractional values (at least 2

decimal points).

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Linear Transformations
z score

A z score of 0?
84.1%?

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Linear Transformations

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Linear Transformations
t score=(z score x 10)+50

score frequency z scores t scores

4 4 1.49
3 6 .43
2 8 -.64
1 2 -1.70

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Area Transformations
express a person's score in terms of where it
falls on the normal curve, rather than simply
providing a new unit of measurement (like
linear one did).

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Area Transformations
Percentile Scores
1.Cum Fm= (0.5 x f) + Cum F below

2.Percentile scores= Cum Fm x (100 / n)

score freq Cum f Cum Fm Percentile scores

4 4 20 .5 x 4 + 16 = 18 18x(100/20) = 90
3 6 16 .5 x 6 + 10 = 13 13x 5 = 65
2 8 10 .5 x 8 + 2 = 6 6x5 = 30
1 2 2 .5 x 2 + 0 =1 1x5 = 5

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Area Transformations

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