Tests & Measurement for People Who (Think They) Hate Tests & Measurement

Neil J. Salkind received his PhD in human development from the University of Maryland, and after teaching for 35 years at the University of Kansas, he was Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychology and Research in Education, where he collaborated with colleagues and work with students. His early interests were in the area of children’s cognitive development, and after research in the areas of cognitive style and (what was then known as) hyperactivity, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of North Carolina’s Bush Center for Child and Family Policy. His work then changed direction to focus on child and family policy, specifically the impact of alternative forms of public support on various child and family outcomes. He delivered more than 150 professional papers and presentations; written more than 100 trade and textbooks; and is the author of Statistics for People Who (Think They) Hate Statistics (SAGE), Theories of Human Development (SAGE), and Exploring Research (Prentice Hall). He has edited several encyclopedias, including the Encyclopedia of Human Development, the Encyclopedia of Measurement and Statistics, and the Encyclopedia of Research Design. He was editor of Child Development Abstracts and Bibliography for 13 years. He lived in Lawrence, Kansas, where he liked to read, swim with the River City Sharks, work as the proprietor and sole employee of big boy press, bake brownies (see www.statisticsforpeople.com for the recipe), and poke around old Volvos and old houses.

A Note to the Student: Why I Wrote This Book
Acknowledgments
About the Author
PART I In the Beginning . . .
1. Why Me-asurement? An Introduction
A Five-Minute History of Testing
So, Why Tests And Measurement?
Some Important Reminders
How Tests Are Created
What Am I Doing in a Tests and Measurement Class?
Ten Ways to Use This Book (And Learn About Tests and Measurement at the Same Time!)
Glossary
Summary
Time to Practice
PART II The Psychology of Psychometrics
2. One Potato, Two Potatoes . . . Levels of Measurement and Their Importance
First Things First
The Four Horsemen (or Levels) of Measurement
A Summary: How Levels of Measurement Differ
Okay, so What’s the Lesson Here?
The Final Word(s)
Summary
Time to Practice
Want to Know More?
3. Getting It Right Every Time: Reliability and Its Importance
Test Scores: Truth or Dare
Getting Conceptual
If You Know About rXY, Skip This Section . . .
Different Flavors of Reliability
How Big Is Big? Interpreting Reliability Coefficients
Things to Remember
And if You Can’t Establish Reliability . . . Then What?
Just One More Thing (And It’s a Big One)
Summary
Time to Practice
Want to Know More?
4. The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth: Validity and Its Importance
A Bit More About the Truth
Different Types of Validity
A Last Friendly Word
Summary
Time to Practice
Want to Know More?
5. Welcome to Lake Wobegon, Where All the Children Are Above Average: Norms and Percentiles
The Basics: Raw (Scores) to the Bone!
Percentiles or Percentile Ranks
Stanines (or Stanine Scores)
The Standard (Fare) Scores
Standing on Your Own: Criterion-Referenced Tests
The Standard Error of Measurement
Summary
Time to Practice
Want to Know More?
6. Item Response Theory—A “New” Kid on the Block
The Beginnings of Item Response Theory
This Is No Regular Curve: The Item Characteristic Curve
Test Items We Like—and Test Items We Don’t
Understanding the Curve
Analyzing Test Data Using IRTPRO
Summary
Time to Practice
Want to Know More?
PART III The Tao and How of Testing
7. Short-Answer and Completion Items: Baskin Robbins® Has __ Flavors
When We Use ’Em and What They Look Like
How to Write ’Em: The Guidelines
The Good and the Bad
Summary
Time to Practice
Want to Know More?
8. Essay Items: Hope You Can Write
When We Use ’Em and What They Look Like
How to Write Essay Items: The Guidelines
The Good and the Bad
How to Score Essay Items
Summary
Time to Practice
Want to Know More?
9. Multiple-Choice Items: Always Pick Answer C and You’ll Be Right About 25% of the Time
When We Use ’Em and What They Look Like
How to Write Multiple-Choice Items: The Guidelines
The Good and the Bad
Why Multiple-Choice Items Are Not So Good
Analyzing Multiple-Choice Items
Summary
Time to Practice
Want to Know More?
10. Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Match: Matching Items
When We Use ’Em and What They Look Like
How to Write ’Em: The Guidelines
The Good and the Bad
Summary
Time to Practice
Want to Know More?
11. True-False Tests: T or F? I Passed My First Measurement Test
What We Use ’Em for and What They Look Like
How to Write ’Em: The Guidelines
The Good and the Bad
Summary
Time to Practice
Want to Know More?
12. Portfolios: Seeing the Big Picture
What Portfolios Are and How They Work
Summary
Time to Practice
Want to Know More?
13. So, Tell Me About Your Childhood: Interesting Interviews
When We Use ’Em and What They Look Like
How to Do ’Em: The Guidelines
The Good and the Bad
Summary
Time to Practice
Want to Know More?
PART IV What to Test and How to Test It
14. Achievement Tests: Who Really Discovered America?
What Achievement Tests Do
How Achievement Tests Differ From One Another
How to Do It: The ABCs of Creating a Standardized Test
The Amazing Table of Specifications
What They Are: A Sampling of Achievement Tests and What They Do
Summary
Time to Practice
Want to Know More?
15. Personality and Neuropsychological Testing: Type A, B, or Me?
What Personality Tests Are and How They Work
Developing Personality Tests
What They Are: A Sampling of Personality Tests and What They Do
What Neuropsychological Tests Are and How They Are Used
Not Just One: The Focus of Neuropsychological Testing
Forensic Assessment: The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth
Summary
Time to Practice
Want to Know More?
16. Aptitude Tests: What’s in Store for Me?
What Aptitude Tests Do
How to Do It: The ABCs of Creating an Aptitude Test
Types of Aptitude Tests
Some of the Big Ones
Summary
Time to Practice
Want to Know More?
17. Intelligence Tests: That Rubik’s Cube Is Driving Me Nuts
The ABCs of Intelligence
From the Beginning: (Almost) All About the Stanford–Binet Intelligence Scale
And the Fab Five Are . . .
Summary
Time to Practice
Want to Know More?
18. Career Choices: So You Want to Be a What?
What Career Development Tests Do
Let’s Get Started: The Strong Interest Inventory
John Holland and The Self-Directed Search
Some Major Caveats: Career Counseling 101
Five Career Tests
Summary
Time to Practice
Want to Know More?
PART V It’s Not Always as You Think: Issues in Tests and Measurement
19. Test Bias: Fair for Everyone?
The $64,000 Question: What Is Test Bias?
Moving Toward Fair Tests: The Fairtest Movement
Models of Test Bias
Where It All Started: Test Score Differences Between Black and White American Children
Summary
Time to Practice
Want to Know More?
20. The Law, Testing, and Ethics: No Child (Should Be) Left Behind and Other Very Interesting Stuff
No Child Left Behind: What It Is and How It Works
The Education for All Handicapped Children Act and the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act: What They Are and How They Work
The Truth in Testing Law: High-Stakes Testing
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act: What It Is and How It Works
Ethics and Assessment: 10 Things To Remember
And More Stuff to Be Concerned About (No, Really)
Summary
Time to Practice
Want to Know More?
APPENDICES
Appendix A: Your Tests and Measurement Toolkit
Appendix B: The Guide to (Almost) Every Test in the Universe
Appendix C: Answer to Practice Questions
Appendix D: A (Very Brief) Review of the Official Standards for Psychological and Educational Testing
Glossary
References
Index