Although its roots can be traced to the 19th century, progress in the study of nonlinear dynamical systems has taken off in the last 30 years. While pertinent source material exists, it is strewn about the literature in mathematics, physics, biology, economics, and psychology at varying levels of accessibility. A compendium research methods reflecting the expertise of major contributors to NDS psychology, Nonlinear Dynamical Systems Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences Using Real Data examines the techniques proven to be the most useful in the behavioral sciences. The editors have brought together constructive work on new practical examples of methods and application built on nonlinear dynamics. They cover dynamics such as attractors, bifurcations, chaos, fractals, catastrophes, self-organization, and related issues in time series analysis, stationarity, modeling and hypothesis testing, probability, and experimental design. The analytic techniques discussed include several variants of the fractal dimension, several types of entropy, phase-space and state-space diagrams, recurrence analysis, spatial fractal analysis, oscillation functions, polynomial and Marquardt nonlinear regression, Markov chains, and symbolic dynamics. The book outlines the analytic requirements faced by social scientists and how they differ from those of mathematicians and natural scientists. It includes chapters centered on theory and procedural explanations for running the analyses with pertinent examples and others that illustrate applications where a particular form of analysis is seen in the context of a research problem. This combination of approaches conveys theoretical and practical knowledge that helps you develop skill and expertise in framing hypotheses dynamically and building viable analytic models to test them.

This proceedings volume highlights the latest research and developments in psychometrics and statistics. It represents selected and peer-reviewed presentations given at the 85th Annual International Meeting of the Psychometric Society (IMPS), held virtually on July 13-17, 2020. The IMPS is one of the largest international meetings on quantitative measurement in education, psychology and the social sciences. It draws approximately 500 participants from around the world, featuring paper and poster presentations, symposiums, workshops, keynotes, and invited presentations. Leading experts and promising young researchers have written the included chapters. The chapters address a wide variety of topics including but not limited to item response theory, adaptive testing, Bayesian estimation, propensity scores, and cognitive diagnostic models. This volume is the 9th in a series of recent works to cover research presented at the IMPS.

Numeracy tests are increasingly a part of the recruitment process, but taking numeracy tests is something most of us dread, let alone practise.

"Brilliant Numeracy Tests" will give you all the practise you need. You'll gain experience with realistic practice questions and answers, become familiar with all the common tests, both general and organization-specific, and feel comfortable with a range of difficulty levels.

Written by an experienced psychologist who has designed and administered numeracy tests, you'll find a variety of effective strategies, tactics and tips to achieve peak performance.

Companion website: www.pearson-books.com/numeracyandverbaltests

Quickly acquire the knowledge and skills you need to confidently administer, score, and interpret the KABC-II

Now designed for children aged three to eighteen, the KABC-II is among the top tier of children's tests of cognitive ability. Alan and Nadeen Kaufman, authors of the KABC-II, joined forces with Elizabeth Lichtenberger and Elaine Fletcher-Janzen to produce Essentials of KABC-II Assessment.

The best source of information on the new edition of the K-ABC, Essentials of KABC-II Assessment provides students and practitioners with an unparalleled resource for learning and application, including expert assessment of the test's relative strengths and weaknesses, valuable advice on its clinical applications, and illuminating case reports.

Like all the volumes in the Essentials of Psychological Assessment series, this book is designed to help busy mental health professionals quickly acquire the knowledge and skills they need to make optimal use of a major psychological assessment instrument. Each concise chapter features numerous callout boxes highlighting key concepts, bulleted points, and extensive illustrative material, as well as test questions that help you gauge and reinforce your grasp of the information covered.

El objetivo del libro es proporcionar a los lectores las herramientas necesarias para evaluar la calidad psicome trica de las medidas educativas y psicolo gicas, asi como de encuestas y cuestionarios. Cada capi tulo aborda un tema relativo a la pra ctica psicome trica y de la medida, con e nfasis en la aplicacio n. Los temas sera n tratados brevemente desde una perspectiva teo rica/te cnica con el fin de proporcionar al lector los antecedentes necesarios para utilizar e interpretar correctamente los ana lisis estadi sticos que se presentara n con posteriormente. Este libro esta dirigido a investigadores, profesionales y estudiantes de posgrado (Ma ster y Doctorado) que buscan una gui a para realizar ana lisis psicome tricos de diferentes instrumentos de evaluacio n. Asumimos un nivel ba sico de conocimientos estadi sticos, pero estos conceptos se ira n repasando a lo largo de los diferentes capi tulos. Nos imaginamos que este texto (a) esperara pacientemente en algunos despachos implorando ser entregado, como recurso, a un estudiante, (b) tendra un lugar fijo en las mesas de los despachos donde continuamente, y debido a su uso diario, sera el primero del monto n, (c) estara en las mochilas de los estudiantes de postgrado, y los acompan ara felizmente desde casa al trabajo o a las clases y vuelta, (d) aparecera orgullosamente como un texto de referencia en los programas y guia s de estudio, y finalmente (e) como ocasional posavasos mientras se reflexiona profundamente acerca de co mo resolver los problemas de medida. Esperamos que a trave s de estos usos, sobre todo el u ltimo, aportar algu n conocimiento y ayuda que permita a los lectores aplicar adecuadamente las te cnicas y los conceptos abordados en este manual. The goal of the book is to provide readers with the tools necessary for assessing the psychometric qualities of educational and psychological measures as well as surveys and questionnaires. Each chapter will cover an issue pertinent to psychometric and measurement practice, with an emphasis on application. Topics will be briefly discussed from a theoretical/technical perspective in order to provide the reader with the background necessary to correctly use and interpret the statistical analyses that will be presented subsequently. The anticipated audience for this book includes researchers, practitioners, and graduate students searching for a guide to perform common psychometric analyses on various assessments, as discussed in many psychometric texts. We envision that this text will (a) patiently wait on some office shelves begging to be handed to a student as a resource, (b) have a permanent home on desks where it continually rises to the top of the stacks for daily use of the applied researcher, (c) be happily carried in bags to and from work and class by the graduate student learning techniques, (d) be listed proudly as a reference text on syllabi, and finally (e) as an occasional drink coaster while deep thoughts are pondered about how to solve measurement problems. We hope that through such uses, particularly the latter, that we have provided some insight and assistance to the user in appropriately applying the techniques and concepts discussed.

Adapting Educational and Psychological Tests for Cross-Cultural Assessment critically examines and advances new methods and practices for adapting tests for cross-cultural assessment and research. The International Test Commission (ITC) guidelines for test adaptation and conceptual and methodological issues in test adaptation are described in detail, and questions of ethics and concern for validity of test scores in cross-cultural contexts are carefully examined. Advances in test translation and adaptation methodology, including statistical identification of flawed test items, establishing equivalence of different language versions of a test, and methodologies for comparing tests in multiple languages, are reviewed and evaluated. The book also focuses on adapting ability, achievement, and personality tests for cross-cultural assessment in educational, industrial, and clinical settings. This book furthers the ITC's mission of stimulating research on timely topics associated with assessment. It provides an excellent resource for courses in psychometric methods, test construction, and educational and/or psychological assessment, testing, and measurement. Written by internationally known scholars in psychometric methods and cross-cultural psychology, the collection of chapters should also provide essential information for educators and psychologists involved in cross-cultural assessment, as well as students aspiring to such careers.

Winner of the 2020 Anselm Strauss Award for Qualitative Family Research, National Council on Family Relations. How is qualitative data actually collected, analyzed, and accomplished? Real stories of How Qualitative Data Analysis Occurs: Moving Beyond "Themes Emerged" offers an in-depth look into how qualitative social science researchers studying family issues and dynamics approach their data analyses. It moves beyond the usual vague statement of "themes emerged from the data" to show readers how researchers actively and consciously arrive at their themes and conclusions, revealing the complexity and time involved in making sense of thousands of pages of interview data, multiple data sources, and diverse types of data. How Qualitative Data Analysis Occurs focuses on a diversity of topics in family research across the life course. The various authors provide detailed narratives into how they analyzed their data from previous publications, and what methodologies they used, ranging from arts-based research, autoethnography, community-based participatory research, ethnography, grounded theory, to narrative analysis. Supplemental figures, images, and screenshots which are referred to in the chapters, are included in an accompanying eResource, as well as links to the previously published work on which the chapters are based. This book is an invaluable resource for experienced and novice qualitative researchers throughout the social sciences.

A focused look at the usesand misusesof psychological tests in the context of child custody This book presents an advanced examination of psychological testing and usage in the child custody arena. It addresses test selection issues, provides insightful discussions of how to confront confirmatory biases and avoid the distortion of test findings, and presents clear instructions for the use of specific tests, including MMPI-2 and Rorschach, and a point/counterpoint discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the Ackerman-Schoendorf Scales for Parent Evaluation of Custody (ASPECT). Psychological Testing in Child Custody Evaluations can be viewed as a work in three parts. The first section addresses theoretical and test usage issues, with chapters focusing on: addressing test selection issues from legal and psychological perspectives bias issues that interfere with the evaluator's ability to collect and consider data objectively a functional, comprehensive approach to the use of psychological tests in a child custody evaluationwith a conceptual framework for choosing assessment techniques to assess parenting competencies and other variables important in forming opinions about custodial placement and visitation access, and a practical example of how to present psychological test data in an advisory report to the court a look at psychological testing from an attorney's point of view The second section of Psychological Testing in Child Custody Evaluations focuses on the MMPI-2 and the Rorschach Inkblot Test in the child custody context, investigating hypotheses that can be inferred from the MMPI-2 regarding parenting behaviors, and the use and value of the Rorschach. This section examines: the foundation from which the MMPI-2 can generate expectations regarding five basic issuesthe quality of attachment and bonding, potential for antisocial behavior, temper control, alienation of affection, and chemical abuse and dependence the range of variables that will generate useful hypotheses regarding parent-child interactions and family systems the effects of the circumstances of litigation on score elevationsincluding recommended limits as to how much elevation can be dismissed as only contextual the important differences between occasion validity and attribute validity the clinical application of an objective interpretation system, including the courtroom credibility of explicit convergent validity the use of the Rorschach in child custody evaluations findings from a study using the Rorschach to address specific parenting variables The third section of Psychological Testing in Child Custody Evaluations is a focused point-counterpoint discussion of ASPECT, between test creator Marc J. Ackerman and Mary Connell, President of the American Academy of Forensic Psychology. This book is essential reading for child custody evaluators, family law attorneys, and judges practicing in the family law arena, as well as educators and students in these fields.

Individual Differences and Personality provides a student-friendly introduction to both classic and cutting-edge research into personality, mood, motivation and intelligence, and their applications in psychology and in fields such as health, education and sporting achievement. Including a new chapter on 'toxic' personality traits, and an additional chapter on applications in real-life settings, this fourth edition has been thoroughly updated and uniquely covers the necessary psychometric methodology needed to understand modern theories. It also develops deep processing and effective learning by encouraging a critical evaluation of both older and modern theories and methodologies, including the Dark Triad, emotional intelligence and psychopathy. Gardner's and hierarchical theories of intelligence, and modern theories of mood and motivation are discussed and evaluated, and the processes which cause people to differ in personality and intelligence are explored in detail. Six chapters provide a non-mathematical grounding in psychometric principles, such as factor analysis, reliability, validity, bias, test-construction and test-use. With self-assessment questions, further reading and a companion website including student and instructor resources, this is the ideal resource for anyone taking modules on personality and individual differences.

This volume addresses an important problem in social scientific research on global religions and spirituality: How to evaluate the role of diverse religious and spiritual (R/S) beliefs and practices within the rapid evolution of spiritual globalization and diversification trends. The book examines this question by bringing together a panel of international scholars including psychologists, sociologists, and researchers in religious studies, public health, medicine, and social work. The content includes chapters describing innovative concepts of post-Christian spirituality, Eastern forms of meditation, afterlife beliefs associated with the three dominant cultural legacies, various non-religious worldviews, spiritual Jihad, and secular and religious reverence. The book also covers such important themes as spiritual well-being, faith, struggle, meaning making, modeling, and support, as well as mysticism and using prayer to cope with existential crises. This book advances the understanding of the role of R/S across different faiths and cultural systems, including both Western and non-Western ones, and enriches the mainstream of psychological sciences and practices. It appeals to students, educators, researchers, and clinicians in multiple related fields and disciplines.

This book provides an alternative method for measuring individual differences in psychological, educational, and other behavioral sciences studies. It is based on the assumptions of ordinal statistics as explained in Norman Cliff's 1996 "Ordinal Methods for Behavioral Data Analysis." It provides the necessary background on ordinal measurement to permit its use to assess psychological and psychophysical tests and scales and interpret the data obtained. The authors believe that some of the behavioral measurement models used today do not fit the data or are inherently self-contradictory. Applications of these models can therefore lead to unwarranted inferences regarding the status of the derived variables. These methods can also be difficult to apply, particularly in small-sample contexts without making additional, unrealistic assumptions. Ordinal methods more closely reflect the original data, are simple to apply, and can be used in samples of any size. The book's approach is in essence a return to simple empiricism in psychological measurement.
"Ordinal Measurement in the Behavioral Sciences" provides:
*methods for analyzing test responses;
*extensive discussions of ordinal approaches to analyzing data that are judgments of stimuli;
*methods for treating psychological data in ways consistent with its ordinal nature so as to stimulate new developments in this area; and
*ordinal test theory and the unfolding methods that are applicable to cross-cultural studies.
Advanced students, researchers, and practitioners concerned with psychological measurement should find this book relevant. Measurement professionals will find it provides useful and simple methods that stimulate thought about measurement's real issues.

This edited volume presents a balanced approach to the ongoing debate of just how general the "general factor" of intelligence is. To accomplish this goal, the editors chose a number of distinct approaches to the study of intelligence--psychometric, genetic-epistemological, cognitive, biological, behavior-genetic, sociocultural, systems--and asked distinguished scholars to write from the standpoint of these approaches. Each approach comprises two chapters, one by a scholar leaning toward a view arguing for the greater generality of "g," and the other by a scholar leaning toward a view arguing for the lesser generality of "g." The scholars are not simply "for" or "against" these outlooks, rather they provide a more textured view of the general factor, attempting to explain it in psychological terms that are easily understandable.
Intended for psychologists in all areas, including clinical, consulting, educational, cognitive, school, developmental, and industrial-organizational, this book will also be of interest to educators, sociologists, anthropologists, and those interested in the nature of intelligence.

Psychological Testing: A Practical Introduction 4e offers students of psychology and allied disciplines a comprehensive survey of psychometric principles and tests in the major categories of applied assessment. Coverage includes test norms, reliability, validity, and test development, with an entirely new chapter on test fairness and bias. Chapters on assessment of cognitive ability, achievement, personality, clinical instruments, and attitudes provide up-to-date examples of the widely used tests in each category. Recognizing that active engagement maximizes learning, the text presents as an active learning device rather than a reference work. Extensive use of chapter objectives, key point and end-of-chapter summaries, practice problems, applied scenarios, internet-based resources, and statistics skills review enable students to engage more fully with the material for a deeper understanding. Written in a clear, reader-friendly style, the text approaches challenging topics by balancing technical rigor with relatable examples of contemporary applications.

This book proposes and explores the idea that the forced union of the aleatory and epistemic aspects of probability is a sterile hybrid, inspired and nourished for 300 years by a false hope of formalizing inductive reasoning, making uncertainty the object of precise calculation. Because this is not really a possible goal, statistical inference is not, cannot be, doing for us today what we imagine it is doing for us. It is for these reasons that statistical inference can be characterized as a myth. The book is aimed primarily at social scientists, for whom statistics and statistical inference are a common concern and frustration. Because the historical development given here is not merely anecdotal, but makes clear the guiding ideas and ambitions that motivated the formulation of particular methods, this book offers an understanding of statistical inference which has not hitherto been available. It will also serve as a supplement to the standard statistics texts. Finally, general readers will find here an interesting study with implications far beyond statistics. The development of statistical inference, to its present position of prominence in the social sciences, epitomizes a number of trends in Western intellectual history of the last three centuries, and the 11th chapter, considering the function of statistical inference in light of our needs for structure, rules, authority, and consensus in general, develops some provocative parallels, especially between epistemology and politics.

Many psychological factors are little more than statistical descriptions of particular sets of data and have no real significance. Paul Kline uses his long and extensive knowledge of psychological measurement to argue that truly scientific forms of measurement could be developed to create a new psychometrics. This would transform the basis of psychology and change it from a social science to a pure science.

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Assessing Competencies for Social and Emotional Learning explores the conceptualization, development, and application of assessments of competencies and contextual factors related to social and emotional learning (SEL). As programs designed to teach students social and emotional competencies are being adopted at an ever-increasing rate, new measurements are needed to understand their impact on student attitudes, behaviors, and academic performance. This book integrates standards of fairness, reliability, and validity, and lessons learned from personality and attitude assessment to facilitate the principled development and use of SEL assessments. Education professionals, assessment developers, and researchers will be better prepared to systematically develop and evaluate measures of social and emotional competencies.

Quickly acquire the knowledge and skills you need to confidently administer, score, and interpret the PAI

The Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) provides critical information for psychologists about a client’s psychopathology and constructs for effective treatment. To use this test properly, professionals need an authoritative source of advice and guidance on how to administer, score, and interpret the test. Written by the developer and foremost authority on the PAI, Essentials of PAI Assessment is that source.

Like all the volumes in the Essentials of Psychological Assessment series, this book is designed to help busy mental health professionals quickly acquire the knowledge and skills they need to make optimal use of major psychological assessment instruments. Each concise chapter features numerous callout boxes highlighting key concepts, bulleted points, and extensive illustrative material, as well as test questions that help you gauge and reinforce your grasp of the information covered.

Essentials of PAI Assessment is the only concise book of its kind to provide state-of-the-art interpretive and administrative guidelines to using this popular self-administered personality test.

The edition of this classic text has been completely revised and updated, taking into account recent developments in the field of psychometrics. Part 1 of Modern Psychometrics outlines the background, history and controversies surrounding psychological testing. Part 2 provides a practical guide for developing a psychometric test. Modern Psychometrics forms the ideal companion for those studying for the British Psychological Society's Certificates of Competence in Testing

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This proceedings volume highlights the latest research and developments in psychometrics and statistics. It represents selected and peer reviewed presentations given at the 84th Annual International Meeting of the Psychometric Society (IMPS), organized by Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile and held in Santiago, Chile during July 15th to 19th, 2019. The IMPS is one of the largest international meetings on quantitative measurement in education, psychology and the social sciences. It draws approximately 500 participants from around the world, featuring paper and poster presentations, symposiums, workshops, keynotes, and invited presentations. Leading experts and promising young researchers have written the included chapters. The chapters address a large variety of topics including but not limited to item response theory, multistage adaptive testing, and cognitive diagnostic models. This volume is the 8th in a series of recent volumes to cover research presented at the IMPS.

This book focuses on the latest developments in behaviormetrics and data science, covering a wide range of topics in data analysis and related areas of data science, including analysis of complex data, analysis of qualitative data, methods for high-dimensional data, dimensionality reduction, visualization of such data, multivariate statistical methods, analysis of asymmetric relational data, and various applications to real data. In addition to theoretical and methodological results, it also shows how to apply the proposed methods to a variety of problems, for example in consumer behavior, decision making, marketing data, and social network structures. Moreover, it discuses methodological aspects and applications in a wide range of areas, such as behaviormetrics; behavioral science; psychology; and marketing, management and social sciences. Combining methodological advances with real-world applications collected from a variety of research fields, the book is a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners, as well as for applied statisticians and data analysts.

This book critically examines the historical and philosophical foundations of construct validity theory (CVT), and how these have and continue to inform and constrain the conceptualization of validity and its application in research. CVT has had an immense impact on how researchers in the behavioural sciences conceptualize and approach their subject matter. Yet, there is equivocation regarding the foundations of the CVT framework as well as ambiguities concerning the nature of the "constructs" that are its raison d'etre. The book is organized in terms of three major parts that speak, respectively, to the historical, philosophical, and pragmatic dimensions of CVT. The primary objective is to provide researchers and students with a critical lens through which a deeper understanding may be gained of both the utility and limitations of CVT and the validation practices to which it has given rise.

Why are some people more mentally able than others ? In an authoritative, critical and intergrated series of review essays Professor Ian Deary inquires after the cognitive and biological foundations of human mental ability differences. Many accounts of intelligence have examined the structure and number of human mental ability differences and whether they can predict sucess in education,work and social life. Few books have taken psychometric intelligence differences as a starting point and brought together the reductionistic attempts to explain them.New to the highly acclaimed Oxford Psychology Series, Looking Down on Human Intelligence appraises the search for the origins of psychometric intelligence differences in terms of brain function parameters. The book provides an original and thought provoking guide to ancient and modern research on one of the most compelling questions in human psychology.

Psychosocial and holistic approaches to assessment have become a central feature of modern mental health care. This practical and comprehensive book guides students through the theory and practice of psychosocial assessments to help them integrate the data as preparation for the effective planning of treatment and interventions. Key features: step-by-step guide on how to undertake each stage of the assessment process in practice clinical staff and service users voices describing their experiences of the process end of chapter exercises reflections and considerations for practice This is essential reading for pre-registration nursing students and mental health professionals.

Whereas most psychology books discuss current or future trends, this one focuses on the past. It consists of a collection of important and historically significant writings by a select group of men and women who, over the past 50 years, were honored by their colleagues for their distinguished contributions to the field of personality assessment. Published from 1939 through 1989, most of the papers were SPA Presidential addresses or presentations by the recipients of the Society's Distinguished Contributions Award. Taken as a whole, they provide a unique perspective on the evolution of personality assessment in America from the perspective of those who have made important contributions to that history. The writings are not merely of historical interest, but intrinsically important scientific contributions, some of which were in danger of being lost or forgotten. The editors feel it is important to preserve and pass on this valuable legacy for the education and edification of later generations.
It is not only its historical perspective that makes this book unique. This book provides first-hand discussions of crucial issues in personality assessment written by the gifted men and women who were actually grappling with these problems at the time, without knowing what the outcomes would be. Readers will find that these papers provide insights not only into the conflicts and controversies, but also into the ideas, attitudes, and emotions of the men and women who took part in them.

This book focuses on the use of the Rasch measurement model in validation studies and in analyzing the psychometric properties of a variety of test instruments, questionnaires, and scales in international contexts. It broadly examines the development and application of Rasch modeling, providing in-depth analyses of the properties of various scales used in the fields of education, and humanities and social sciences research. The book includes exemplary works on educational research and practices that highlight recent and innovative applications, as well as theoretical and practical aspects of Rasch modeling. Readers will find it helpful to understand the latest approaches to Rasch measurement in educational research, as well as practices for future studies and quantitative research. 'This book provides a diverse set of perspectives on Rasch models from scholars across the globe. The volume is both theoretical and applied. The first section of the book provides an overview of Rasch modeling and explains the theoretical and conceptual framework underlying the Rasch model. The remainder of the book highlights multiple applications of the Rasch model within educational assessment as well as several examples of how Rasch modeling can be used for validation studies. This volume showcases the wide variety of ways in which Rasch modeling can be applied to assessment data to provide insights into students' achievement and learning and to improve instruction.'-Betsy McCoach, University of Connecticut, USA. 'A well-written collection of articles. Grouped by the theoretical and applied aspects of Rasch measurement, each chapter in this edited volume makes notable contributions to knowledge and practice. Written by leading scholars in the field, these chapters were written in a clear, succinct, and assertive manner, providing readers with up-to-date information, analyses, and debates. This book should be found in the core collection of emerging researchers and established scholars in educational measurement.'-Timothy Teo, Murdoch University, Australia.