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The objective of this course is to introduce and expand on measurement issues relevant within the field of Industrial and Organisational Psychology. Particular emphasis is placed on scale development, reliability analysis, validity assessment techniques, common method variance Issues, measurement bias issues, design issues, classical test theory. Critical thinking, relation of theory to practice, as well as reflection, both oral and written, will be strongly emphasized.
The objective of this course is to build knowledge and skills related to measurement in the field of organisational psychology, with a special focus on survey methods and measurement design. We will cover topics like scale development and concepts like reliability analysis, validity assessment techniques. We will also cover concepts relevant to conducting and interpreting survey-based research such as common method variance, measurement bias and invariance, study design, and factor structure of measures. The course consists of a mix of pre-recorded and in-person lectures on the different topics related to measurement aspects. Lectures are for the most part closely linked to the course literature, so I recommend reading the book. Class meetings will provide an opportunity to ask questions about the lecture, and participate in discussions and exercises designed to help explain the different topics. The course includes a number of practical elements: you will design your own measurement scale, and develop and administer your own questionnaires, and evaluate the measurement properties of the questionnaire. To make sure you know how to do this, we’ll go through the statistics software and basic analyses together. This is not a statistics course! Instead, we will apply many of the statistical methods you have covered previously, for example: correlation, factor analysis, reliability analysis, and basic regression, and analysis of variance. But we’ll do all the analyses together first, to make sure you know how to do them and interpret the results.
The objectives of the course are to: 1. Demonstrate knowledge of the main measurement theories and different types of validity relevant to I/O Psychology, knowledge of reliability of measures/tests, why it is important, and what factors affect it, as well as the relation between a research question, questionnaire construction, and statistical analysis.2. Critically evaluate the quality of a measure/test published in journals/case reports/media, and choose the appropriate measure to assess a particular phenomenon.3. Construct multiple indicator measurement scales for psychological constructs.4. Statistically evaluate measurement properties of scales designed to measure latent variables with multiple indicators (e.g., by using exploratory factor analysis and reliability estimates).5. Discuss measurement properties and reflect on benefits and drawbacks of scales.
Subject to approval of the Head of Department
Students must attend one activity from each section.
Katharina Naswall
DeVellis, R.F; Scale development: Theory and applications ; 4th; Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2017 (or DeVellis, R.F. & Thorpe, C.T (2022). Scale development: Theory and applications. 5th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage).
Fabrigar, Leandre R. , Wegener, Duane Theodore; Exploratory factor analysis ; Oxford University Press, 2012.
Shultz, K.S. & Whitney, D.J; Measurement theory in action ; Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2005.
Taylor, C., S; Validity and Validation ; Oxford, 2013.
Domestic fee $1,176.00
International Postgraduate fees
* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.
Maximum enrolment is 30
For further information see School of Psychology, Speech and Hearing .