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HP3804 Psychological Testing

School of Humanities & Social Sciences

Division of Psychology

Nanyang Technological University

Academic Year:

Instructor:

Office hours:

2016-2017 Semester 1

Dr. Paul Englert

By Appointment

Lecture

Venue: LT17

Time: Thursday 1.30pm to 4.30pm

Prerequisite: HP 1000/ HP 100, HP 1100/ HP 102 [or with the permission of the instructor]

Course Description

This is an introductory course focusing on the theories and concepts related to psychological

measurement. The topics covered include test score interpretation, scaling, reliability, validity, test

construction and item analysis, with special emphasis in classical test theory. Modern psychometric

approaches such as item response theory (IRT) will also be introduced. At the end of the course,

students are expected to understand the basics of test theory and gain some experience in developing a

scale.

Learning Objectives

This course is an introduction to the principles underlying educational and psychological

measurement and testing. The general goals of this course are to explore the nature, problems,

challenges and potential of psychological testing.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the course, students are expected to understand the basics of test

theory and test construction, and be able to critically evaluate the tests that we consider in the course

which are drawn from tests commonly used in the field of psychological testing.

Textbook

Kline T. J. (2005). Psychological Testing: A Practical Approach to Design and Evaluation. Thousand

Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Recommended Reference

Gregory, R. J. (2013). Psychological Testing: History, Principles, and Applications. Wheaton College,

Pearson.

** The two books are on reserve in HSS library.

Class Schedule

Teaching Week Topic

1 (August 11) Fundamentals of Measurement, Designing and Writing Items

2 (August 18) Designing & Scoring Responses

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3 (August 25) Classical Test Theory

4 (September 1) Reliability

5 (September 8) Validity

6 (September 15) Factor Analysis

7 (September 22) Item Response Theory

(September 29) Recess

8 (October 6) Response and Test Biases

9 (October 13) Generalizability Theory and Evaluation methodology

10 (October 20) In-class quiz

Ethics and Professional Issues in Testing

11 (October 27) Applications in Testing (1)

12 (November 3) Applications in Testing (2)

13 (November 10) Project presentation

Project due: To be announced

Student Assessment

Continuous Assessment (100%)

a. Group Project 55% (35% for project report and 20% for presentation)

b. Assignments (two) 30%

c. In-class quiz 15%

Continuous assessment will consist of:

1) Three assignments (45%):

Students will need to complete assignments in relating to the concepts they learn from the

course, including evaluating and writing items for measuring a psychological construct of

interest, determine psychometric properties (e.g. reliability, validity, dimensionality, item

difficulty, etc.) of a psychological test based on given datasets.

(2) Group project (35% for the report and 20% for the project presentation):

The project is designed for students to practice on how to construct a psychological test based

on what they have learned from this course. Students will be evaluated based on the

procedures they use in developing the items of their psychological test, data collection,

analysis performed, final report and presentation.

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Calculators

All calculators that are to be brought into the examination halls must be registered by the School. HSS

students are required to get their calculators registered at the HSS Undergraduate Office, see

http://www.hss.ntu.edu.sg/CurrentStudents/Undergraduate/Pages/RegistrationofCalculators.aspx

For the list of approved calculators, see:

http://www.hss.ntu.edu.sg/CurrentStudents/Undergraduate/Documents/graphic_Calculators.pdf

For rules governing use of calculators at examination, see:

http://www.hss.ntu.edu.sg/CurrentStudents/Undergraduate/Documents/registrationofcalculators.pdf

Graphic calculators are allowed for use in the new GCE 'A' Level Curriculum from 2006. For consistency,

the University will allow the use of graphic calculators with effect from S1 AY 2006-07 examinations.

Students are responsible for clearing any information and/or programs stored in the graphic calculators

before the examination. Here is the list of approved graphic calculators:

http://www.hssapps.ntu.edu.sg/doc/graphic_calculators.pdf

Softwares

You will learn to use software, called R-studio, to run the data analysis in this course.

The software is free and can be downloaded from here:

http://www.rstudio.com/ide/download/desktop

Before you can install R-Studio, you need to first install R first.

More details on installation can be found from here:

http://www.cambridge.org/features/econmodelling/download/RStudio_setup_guide_draft1.pdf

Please install both R and R-Studio on your laptop and bring your laptop to class as you will learn how

to use it during the lecture.

Academic Integrity

Originality of work and appropriate acknowledgement of reference source are extremely important in

the academic context.

As a psychology student, you are expected to follow the guidelines of the American Psychological

Association on referencing and citation (see APA Publication Manual, 6th Edition).

As a student of NTU, you are expected to uphold the Honor Code against plagiarism and collusion.

Plagiarism and collusion are defined as the following in the Honor Code:

Plagiarism: “To use or pass off as one’s own, the writings or ideas of another,

without acknowledging or crediting the source from which the ideas are taken.”

Collusion: “Submitting an assignment, project or report completed by another

person and passing it off as one’s own; Preparing an assignment, project or report

for a fellow student who submits the work as his or her own.”

Committing plagiarism and/or collusion in this course warrants serious penalty, see here for more

details:

http://www.hss.ntu.edu.sg/CurrentStudents/Undergraduate/Pages/PlagiarismNotice.aspx

Also, please see here on NTU’s policy on Academic Integrity: http://academicintegrity.ntu.edu.sg/