Table Of Contentebook
THE GUILFORD PRESS
Psychometric Methods
Guilford_Psychometric Methods_FM.indd i Manila Typesetting Company 10/07/2016 09:40AM
Methodology in the Social Sciences
David A. Kenny, Founding Editor
Todd D. Little, Series Editor
www.guilford.com/MSS
This series provides applied researchers and students with analysis and research design books that
emphasize the use of methods to answer research questions. Rather than emphasizing statistical
theory, each volume in the series illustrates when a technique should (and should not) be used and
how the output from available software programs should (and should not) be interpreted. Common
pitfalls as well as areas of further development are clearly articulated.
RECENT VOLUMES
DOING STATISTICAL MEDIATION AND MODERATION
Paul E. Jose
LONGITUDINAL STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING
Todd D. Little
INTRODUCTION TO MEDIATION, MODERATION, AND CONDITIONAL
PROCESS ANALYSIS: A REGRESSION-BASED APPROACH
Andrew F. Hayes
BAYESIAN STATISTICS FOR THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
David Kaplan
CONFIRMATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS FOR APPLIED RESEARCH, SECOND EDITION
Timothy A. Brown
PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING, FOURTH EDITION
Rex B. Kline
HYPOTHESIS TESTING AND MODEL SELECTION IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
David L. Weakliem
REGRESSION ANALYSIS AND LINEAR MODELS:
CONCEPTS, APPLICATIONS, AND IMPLEMENTATION
Richard B. Darlington and Andrew F. Hayes
GROWTH MODELING: STRUCTURAL EQUATION
AND MULTILEVEL MODELING APPROACHES
Kevin J. Grimm, Nilam Ram, and Ryne Estabrook
PSYCHOMETRIC METHODS: THEORY INTO PRACTICE
Larry R. Price
Guilford_Psychometric Methods_FM.indd ii Manila Typesetting Company 10/07/2016 09:40AM
Psychometric Methods
Theory into Practice
Larry R. Price
Series Editor’s Note by Todd D. Little
THE GUILFORD PRESS
New York London
Guilford_Psychometric Methods_FM.indd iii Manila Typesetting Company 10/07/2016 09:40AM
Copyright © 2017 The Guilford Press
A Division of Guilford Publications, Inc.
370 Seventh Avenue, Suite 1200, New York, NY 10001
www.guilford.com
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Last digit is print number: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Price, Larry R., author.
Title: Psychometric methods : theory into practice / Larry R. Price.
Description: New York : The Guilford Press, [2017] | Series: Methodology in the social sciences |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016013346 | ISBN 9781462524778 (hardback)
Subjects: LCSH: Psychometrics. | BISAC: SOCIAL SCIENCE / Research. | MEDICAL / Nursing /
Research & Theory. | PSYCHOLOGY / Assessment, Testing & Measurement. | EDUCATION /
Testing & Measurement. | BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Statistics.
Classification: LCC BF39 .P685 2016 | DDC 150.1/5195—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016013346
To my parents, wife, and former students
Series Editor’s Note
The term psychometrics has an almost mystical aura about it. Larry Price brings his vast
acumen as well as his kind and gentle persona to demystify for you the world of psycho-
metrics. Psychometrics is not just a province of psychology. In fact, the theory-to-practice
orientation that Larry brings to his book makes it clear how widely applicable the fun-
damental principles are across the gamut of disciplines in the social sciences. Because
psychometrics is foundationally intertwined with the measurement of intelligence, Larry
uses this model to convey psychometric principles for applied uses. Generalizing these
principles to your domain of application is extremely simple because they are presented
as principles, and not rules that are tied to a domain of inquiry.
Psychometrics is an encompassing field that spans the research spectrum from inspi-
ration to dissemination. At the inspiration phase, psychometrics covers the operational
characteristics of measurement, assessment, and evaluation. E. L. Thorndike (1918) once
stated, “Whatever exists at all exists in some amount. To know it thoroughly involves
knowing its quantity as well as its quality.” I interpret this statement as a callout to mea-
surement experts: Using the underlying principles of psychometrics, “figure out how to
measure it!” If it exists at all, it can be measured, and it is up to us, as principled psy-
chometricians, to divine a way to measure anything that exists. Larry’s book provides
an accessible presentation of all the tools at your disposal to figure out how to measure
anything that your research demands.
Thorndike’s contemporary, E. G. Boring (1923) once quipped, “Intelligence is what
the tests test.” Both Thorndike’s and Boring’s famous truisms have psychometrics at the
core of their intent. Boring’s remarks move us more from the basics of measurement to
the process of validation, a key domain of psychometrics. I have lost count of the many
different kinds of validities that have been introduced, but fortunately, Larry’s book enu-
merates the important ones and gives you the basis to understand what folks mean when
they use the word validity in any phase of the research process.
vii
Guilford_Psychometric Methods_FM.indd vii Manila Typesetting Company 10/21/2015 9:22AM
viii Series Editor’s Note
Being a good psychometrician is a form of recession-proof job security. The demand
for well-trained psychometricians is higher now than at any time in history. Accountabil-
ity standards, evidence-based practice initiatives, and the like require that new measures
for assessment and evaluation be developed, and they require that many of the “standard”
measurement tools be revamped and brought up to the standards of modern measure-
ment principles. Larry Price’s book provides you with all of the necessary tools to become
a great psychometrician.
As always, “enjoy!”
Todd D. Little
On the road in Corvallis, Oregon
REfERENCES
Boring, E. G. (1923). Intelligence as the tests test it. New Republic, 36, 35–37.
Thorndike, E. L. (1918). The nature, purposes, and general methods of measurement of educa-
tional products. In S. A. Courtis (Ed.), The measurement of educational products (17th Year-
book of the National Society for the Study of Education, Pt. 2, pp. 16–24). Bloomington, IL:
Public School.
Guilford_Psychometric Methods_FM.indd viii Manila Typesetting Company 10/07/2016 09:40AM
