PSY 395
Exam 2 – Topic List (NOTE: This is just a general list to help organize the notes you have taken on the
textbook and lecture material. Do not use the list as your sole study guide – that would be
real real bad!)
Item-Level and Test-Level Development
item writing
item content (e.g., facts, attitudes, beliefs, sociometric)
item response alternatives (e.g., all options given, open-ended or closed-ended)
scale construction (e.g., scales that are rational/theory-based, empirical/data-based, or both)
wording questions carefully (e.g., not ambiguous, not biased, not double-barreled)
modes of questioning (e.g., face-to-face, phone)
question sequencing (e.g., funnel principle)
sensitive questions (e.g., careful wording, randomized response technique)
pretesting (e.g., why do it, split-ballot)
response problems (e.g., memory telescoping, social desirability, random responding)
filter questions, floaters
item difficulty (p value)
item discrimination (point-biserial correlation)
unidimensional vs. multidimensional scales (related: domain sampling)
levels of measurement (nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio)
rating scales (e.g., graphic rating, itemized/Likert rating, comparative rating scales)
biases of rating scales (e.g., halo bias, generosity error, contrast error, acquiescent response)
differential scales (Thurstone scales), cumulative scales (Guttman scales), and
summated scales (Likert scales, checklists)
semantic differential (bipolar scale)
Individual Differences (Intelligence, Interests, Personality)
definitions and theories of intelligence (what experts think, Sternberg, Gardner)
g, fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence (hierarchical structure)
intelligence-related phenomena (Flynn effect, gravitation hypothesis)
vocational interests – Holland’s RIASEC hexagonal model
summarizing the hexagon (data vs. ideas and people vs. things; conformity and sociability)
personality – continuum from traits to states
Big Five (e.g., the factors, the lexical hypothesis)
personality and employment testing (e.g., what factors predict)
curvilinear relationships
Regression and Test Bias
regression analysis (e.g., what’s it used for, relation to correlation)
interpreting the slope of the regression line
interpreting the intercept of the regression line
over and underprediction
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PSY 395
group differences exist in some measures; generally group differences do not strongly predict how
individuals perform (e.g., Group A on average scores higher than Group B, but that doesn’t
mean an individual selected from Group A will score higher than an individual selected from
Group B)
group differences on intelligence measures, interest measures, personality measures
test bias and adverse impact
differential validity and differential prediction
moderator variables
testing for test bias: moderated multiple regression
intercept bias
slope bias
no bias
Sampling Theory
goals of sampling (e.g., internal and external validity)
important terms
probability sampling
why we do this
random sampling (and e.g., sampling distribution, sampling error, sampling frame)
stratified random sampling
cluster random sampling
multi-stage sampling
nonprobability sampling
why we do this
biases
convenience sampling
purposive sampling
modal instance sampling
expert sampling
quota sampling (e.g., proportional and nonproportional quota sampling)
heterogeneity sampling
snowball sampling
Experience Sampling
what is it
why use it
where could it be used (e.g., 4 examples in the book, what was found)
types of signaling and sampling plans
daily diary
general issues with experience sampling
different approaches (paper/pencil, computer, other)
Day Reconstruction Method
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PSY 395
Ethics
Nuremburg Code
Tuskegee Study (racism and unethical conduct)
Milgram Study (conformity in subjects who felt they were harming others)
[don’t need to know the other studies]
Belmont Report: Respect for Persons, Beneficence, Justice
Key Themes in Ethical Research: (1) informed consent, (2) freedom from coercion, (3) protection from
psychological and physical harm, (4) protection of privacy, confidentiality, or anonymity, (5) riskbenefit rule, (6) debriefing
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