The Chronic Crisis in Psychological Measurement and Assessment

1 History The Seeds of Conflict The Desire to Be Scientific The Desire to Be Relevant Consequences of the Success of Psychological Measurement Prediction over Explanation Handling Error Loss of Experimental Methods The Gain of Traits and Loss of Situations Loss of Precision Consequences of the Problems of Psychological Measurement Scientific Crises The Neglect of Measurement The Wisdom and Tyranny of Tradition Measurement and Theoretical Advances Summary and Implications2 Consistency of Measurement Across and within Individuals Consistency of Measurement across Individuals Large Samples and Individual Differences Equals Nomothetic Measurement Consistency of Measurement within Individuals A Brief History of Traits Systematic Measurement Errors: Sources of Inconsistency Human Judgment Ratings Response Strategies Factors Related to Strategy Selection Cognitive Influences Motivational and Affective Influences Behavioral Influences Examples of Generative Response Strategies Error Simulations Consistency within Human Response Modes: Desynchrony of Behavior, Affect, and Cognition History Evidence for Mode Inconsistency Causes Psychological Interventions Summary and Implications3 Consistency across Raters and Rating Procedures Inconsistencies across Raters Employment Interviews Clinical Interviews Rater Errors Halo Errors Leniency and Criticalness Errors Range Restriction Errors Improving Interviews and Raters Whose Rating is Most Valid? Inconsistency across Rating Procedures Statistical versus Clinical Prediction Clinical Observation of Test Behavior Scientist as Observer Summary and Implications4 Consistency within and across Situations: Trait versus Environment History The Controversy of Mischel and Peterson Reinforcing the Trait Argument The Rejection of Traits: Behavioral Assessment Person-Environment Interactions Aptitude-by-Treatment Interactions (ATIs) Environmental Assessment Moderators of Cross-Situational Consistency States and Traits Process Research Summary and Implications5 Consistency across Constructs: Lack of Discriminant Validity History Types of Validity Constructs, Theories, and Valid Measurement Multitrait-Multimethod Matrices Campbell and Fiske Criteria for Construct Validity Ubiquitous Method Variance Inconsistency across Constructs A Multitrait-Multimethod Example Problems with Construct Validation Summary and Implications6 Promising Approaches Traditional Approaches Measurement of Personality and Temperament Act-Frequency Analysis The Big Five Predicting Occupational Criteria Clinical Measures Cognitive Abilities and g Neuropsychological Testing Aggregation Summary Statistically Oriented Approaches Item Response Theory (IRT) Generalizability Theory (GT) Does Measurement Equal Statistics? Do the Measurement Properties of Objects Affect the Type of Statistical Procedure Employed? Summary Cognitive Approaches Task Decomposition Protocol Analysis Item Characteristics Constructivist Assessments Summary Behavioral Approaches Assessment in Mental Health Institutions Behavioral Physics Simulations, Structured Assessments, and Work Assessment Centers Summary Computer-Based Approaches Response Latency Human Speech Simulations Summary Summary and Implications7 Integration The Implications of Measurement History Constructing Tests Measurement for Selection Measurement for Explanatory Theory Building Measurement for Intervention Administering Tests Selection Theory Building Intervention Scoring Tests Selection Theory Building Intervention Interpreting Tests Selection Theory Building Intervention Summary and Implications8 Conclusions and SpeculationsAppendixReferencesAuthor IndexSubject Index