Theory and Techniques of test (2017/2018)

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Course code
4S000608
Credits
6
Coordinator
Margherita Brondino
Academic sector
M-PSI/03 - PSYCHOMETRICS
Language of instruction
Italian
Teaching is organised as follows:
Activity Credits Period Academic staff Timetable
Lezioni 4 Sem. IB Margherita Brondino

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Esercitazioni 2 Sem. IB Margherita Brondino

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Learning outcomes

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MM: Lezioni
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The main aim of the present course is to help the student to acquire the basilar knowledge about the construction and use of psychological tests. Coherently with the degree course the student will develop capabilities of judgement making on the use of psychological tests, understanding and examining some problematic areas in psychological measurement and on the interpretation and communication of test results. The use of psychological tests in research and applied settings will be learnt, with a particular focus on research in organization. The course will be mainly focused on: the applied knowledge and the applied understanding of the basic techniques for measuring psychological constructs and to discuss some of the problems associated with such measurements; fostering a critical and independent attitude to make judgements on claims made for commercial and other tests which students may encounter in their future careers; the development of the required communication skills needed for the test administration and the communication of the results; the learning skill about the creation, the use and the evaluation process of psychometric tests with some examples drawn from the recent research literature. The course is developed trough frontal lessons, work group and laboratorial lessons to permit the acquisition of theoretical and applied knowledge and skills.
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MM: Esercitazioni
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The lab is focused on two aims related to the collection of data trough a questionnaire. The first aim concerns the acquisition of the applied knowledge and skills needed for the construction of a new questionnaire, the adaption of an existing instrument and the different ways of data collection. The second aim concerns the learning of the basilar applied knowledge and skills on the R package software for data analysis to be able to verify the psychometric properties of the questionnaire.

Syllabus

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MM: Lezioni
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The program will be developed trough frontal lessons, workshop with psychologists expert on the application of psychological tests in clinical and organizational context and work groups. The work group activities will be optional. The moodle platform will be used to support the course activities. The program is the same for both students who attend the course and who not attend it.
The program of the course will cover the following topics:
- The issue of the measure in psychology
- The administration of a questionnaire
- How to build a psychological test: what we want to measure
- The scaling models - How to write a test
- Preliminary analysis of the items
- Exploratory and confirmatory analysis and criterion validity
- Interpretation and standardization of the scores
- Introduction and application of two famous psychological tests
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MM: Esercitazioni
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A brief description of the program that will be done during the lab:
L1. How to write the items of a questionnaire, to collect data and prepare a database;
L2. Preparation of the database (continue), coding of the variables and transformation of the reverse;
L3. Analysis of the quality of the data and of the scale;
L4. Introduction of R: descriptive statistics and reliability of the scale;
L5. Exploratory factor analysis
L6. Confirmatory factor analysis and criterio validity
L7. Exercitations
L8. Final exercitation reference: Chiorri, C. (2011). Teoria e tecnica psicometrica. Milano: McGraw-Hill.

Assessment methods and criteria

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MM: Lezioni
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The exam is written and it is composed by 32 questions with multiple choice responses on the topics of the course. The final score of the exam is the sum of the written exam (compulsory), the score of the laboratory exercitation (compulsory), the score of the work-group presentation and discussion on a paper (facultative).
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MM: Esercitazioni
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Written exam with exercises on Excel and R package

Reference books
Activity Author Title Publisher Year ISBN Note
Lezioni Dennis Howitt, Duncan Cramer Introduzione alla statistica per psicologia. Con MyLab. Con e-book. Con espansione online. Pearson Education Italia 2014
Esercitazioni Vito M. R. Muggeo Giancarlo Ferrara Il linguaggio R : concetti introduttivi ed esempi 2005
Esercitazioni Dennis Howitt, Duncan Cramer Introduzione alla statistica per psicologia. Con MyLab. Con e-book. Con espansione online. Pearson Education Italia 2014

STUDENT MODULE EVALUATION - 2017/2018


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