APSY617-26S2 (C) Semester Two 2026

Industrial and Organisational Psychology Measurement Issues

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 13 July 2026
End Date: Sunday, 8 November 2026
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Sunday, 26 July 2026
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Sunday, 27 September 2026

Description

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.

Learning Outcomes

After successful completion of this course, you will be able 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 an existing measure/test and choose the appropriate measure to assess a particular phenomenon

3. Collect data using an online survey tool.

4. Construct multiple indicator measurement scales for psychological constructs.

5. Statistically evaluate measurement properties of scales designed to measure latent variables with multiple indicators (e.g., by using exploratory factor analysis and reliability estimates).

6. Discuss measurement properties and reflect on benefits and drawbacks of the scales created.

Prerequisites

Subject to approval of the Head of Department

Timetable 2026

Students must attend one activity from each section.

Lecture A
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Monday 12:00 - 14:00 Psychology - Sociology 437
13 Jul - 23 Aug
7 Sep - 18 Oct

Guest Lecturer

Anahí Van Hootegem

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage 
Construct definition and Item construction 20%
Measurement evaluation Part 1: Measurement in practice 10%
Measurement evaluation Part 2: Measurement in research 10%
Scale Development Report 40%
Final Exam (Oral) 20%

Textbooks / Resources

Required Texts

DeVellis, R.F; Scale development ; 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).

Recommended Reading

Fabrigar & Wegener; Exploratory Factor Analysis ; Oxford, 2012.

Shultz, K.S. & Whitney, D.J; Measurement theory in action ; Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2005.

Taylor, C., S; Validity and Validation ; Oxford, 2013.

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $1,247.00

* 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.

Limited Entry Course

Maximum enrolment is 30

For further information see School of Psychology, Speech and Hearing .

All APSY617 Occurrences

  • APSY617-26S2 (C) Semester Two 2026