EPSY 625 SPRING 2007

ADVANCED BEHAVIORAL MEASUREMENT

DR. VICTOR WILLSON, PROFESSOR 718B HARRINGTON

Tel: 845-1808 (O) email: v-willson@tamu.edu

696-0193 (H) lloydwill@aol.com

OFFICE HOURS: TR 11-12, 2:30-3:30, W 3-5, by appointment

TEXT: Crocker and Algina, INTRODUCTION TO CLASSICAL AND MODERN TEST THEORY. NY: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston, 1986.

Students with Special Needs

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal anti-discrimination statute that provides comprehensive civil rights protection for persons with disabilities. Among other things, this legislation requires that allstudents with disabilities be guaranteed a learning environment that provides for reasonable accommodation of their disabilities. If you believe you have a disability requiring an accommodation, please contact the Office of Support Services for Students with Disabilities in Room 126 of the Student Services Building. The telephone number is 845-1637.

Handouts

The handouts used in this course are copyrighted. By "handouts" I mean all materials generated for this class, which include but are not limited to syllabi, quizzes, lab problems, in-class materials, review sheets, and additional problem sets. Because these materials are copyrighted, you do not have the right to copy the handouts, unless I expressly grant permission.

Plagiarism

As commonly defined, plagiarism consists of passing off as one's own ideas, words, writings, etc. which belong to another. In accordance with this definition, you are committing plagiarism if you copy the work of another person and turn it in as your own, even if you should have permission of that person. Plagiarism is one of the worst academic transgressions, for the plagiarist destroys the trust among colleagues, without which research cannot be safely communicated. If you have any questions regarding plagiarism, please consult the latest issue of the Texas A&M University Student Rules under the section "Scholastic Dishonesty."

DATE TOPIC READINGS ASSIGNMENT

JAN 16 LEC1-TEST THEORY AND PSYCHOLOGY C&A Ch.1 Ch.2:1-13

Willson, 1989

18, 23 LEC2-PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALING C&A Ch.3 Ch. 3:1-5

25,30 LEC3-COGNITIVE ITEM WRITING C&A Ch.4 see A1

Willson, 1989

FEB 1,6 LEC4-AFFECTIVE ITEM WRITING see A2

Thurstone, 1928

Likert, 1932

13 LEC5-TRUE SCORE THEORY C&A Ch.5,6 Ch.6:1-8,

even #s

A1 due FEB 20

20, 22 LEC6-RELIABILITY C&A Ch.7 A2 due FEB 27

A3 due MAR 6

27

MAR 1, 6 LEC7-GENERALIZABILITY C&A Ch. 8 A4

8 MIDTERM

20 MIDTERM REVIEW

22 LEC9- VALIDITY INTRO C&A Ch. 10 Ch.10:1,4-7

Messick 1999

27, 29 LEC10- PREDICTION AND CLASSIFI- C&A Ch. 11 Ch.11:1,3

CATION;DISCRIMINANT ANALYSIS

APR 3,5,10 LEC11- FACTOR ANALYSIS C&A Ch.13 A5 due

APR 12, 17 LEC12- STRONG TRUE SCORE THEORY C&A Ch.15 Ch.15:5

19, 24 LEC13- BIAS C&A Ch. 12,16 A6 due

APR 26 LEC14- TEST SCORES C&A Ch. 17-20 Ch.17:1 Ch.18:1,2

MAY 1 Ch.19:1 Ch.20:1

MAY 3 REVIEW (optional attendance)

MAY 8 1-3pm FINAL WRITTEN EXAM

ASSIGNMENTS

A1 Develop a cognitive test for some area of interest to you with at least 10 items; link the items' structure to a theoretical model; obtain IRB approval and administer the test to at least 15 subjects (and more subjects than items) and collect item data as well as at least one independent variable on the subjects; write a brief paper detailing the development and administration using APA methods format.

or

A2 Develop an affective/personality test for some area of interest to you with at least 15 items using Likert scaling approach; administer the test to at least 20 subjects and collect item data as well as at least two independent scores on the subjects; write a brief summary of the development and administration using APA methods format. Include activities of A3.

(NOTE: these must have an IRB form completed and returned to the instructor for approval unless requiring full IRB due to sensitive information, children or other protected group)

A3 Compute coefficient alpha for the test you developed in A1. Compute item difficulty coefficients, item-total correlations, and for A1 item discrimination indices. Evaluate items for their contribution to reliability and recommend any items to be deleted. The reliability estimation for A2 may be deferred until after you hand in A2, but must be completed to receive credit for this assignment.

A4 Using at least one independent variable you measured in A1 or A2, conduct a g-study using variance components analysis in SPSS. You will need to reorder your data for this analysis.

A5 Classify your samples from A1 or A2 into at least two groups based on one of the independent variables (dichotomized or polychotomized) using discriminant analysis techniques; write a short summary of results using APA format.

A6 Use common factor analysis with both orthogonal and oblique rotation to analyze your data from A1 or A2; perform a confirmatory factor analysis of your intended structure using either AMOS or SAS PROC CALIS; write a short summary of results using APA format.

GRADING: Grades will be based on quality of the exams, assignments, and homework problems; you may work in groups on problems, but each student must develop his/her own tests in A1 and A2. Subsequent analyses for each test may be done cooperatively but separate reports must be written by the author of the test for assignments A3-A5.

EXAMS - Midterm 20%, Final 25% GRADES: A OVER 90% C 75-66%

HOMEWORKS - 20% B 89-76% D 65-56%

ASSIGNMENTS - A1, A2 10% @ F BELOW 55%

A3-A5 5% @

NOTE: PROJECTS A1 AND A2 MUST BE COMPLETED ON THE DUE DATE OR A GRADE OF F WILL BE GIVEN, NO EXCEPTIONS; OTHER PROJECT TURN-IN DATES ARE SUGGESTED FOR BEST PEDAGOGICAL EFFECT BUT ARE NOT ABSOLUTE DEADLINES.