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The Attack of the Psychometricians
Open accessAbstract
This paper analyzes the theoretical, pragmatic, and substantive factors that have hampered the integration between psychology and psychometrics. Theoretical factors include the operationalist mode of thinking which is common throughout psychology, the dominance of classical test theory, and the use of “construct validity” as a catch-all category for a range of challenging psychometric problems. Pragmatic factors include the lack of interest in mathematically precise thinking in psychology, inadequate representation of psychometric modeling in major statistics programs, and insufficient mathematical training in the psychological curriculum. Substantive factors relate to the absence of psychological theories that are sufficiently strong to motivate the structure of psychometric models. Following the identification of these problems, a number of promising recent developments are discussed, and suggestions are made to further the integration of psychology and psychometrics.
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Cites
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Cited by
On the use, the misuse, and the very limited usefulness of Cronbach’s alpha
Sijtsma, K. (2009) · Psychometrika · doi:10.1007/s11336-008-9101-0 · Cited by 2,814
Dimensionality assessment of ordered polytomous items with parallel analysis
Timmerman, M. E., & Lorenzo-Seva, U. (2011) · Psychological Methods · doi:10.1037/a0023353 · Cited by 1,634
El análisis factorial exploratorio de los ítems: una guía práctica, revisada y actualizada
Lloret-Segura, S., Ferreres-Traver, A., Hernández-Baeza, A., & Tomás-Marco, I. (2014) · Anales de Psicología · doi:10.6018/analesps.30.3.199361 · Cited by 1,616
Construct Validity: Advances in Theory and Methodology
Strauss, M. E., & Smith, G. T. (2009) · Annual Review of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.032408.153639 · Cited by 803
Item Response Theory and Clinical Measurement
Reise, S. P., & Waller, N. G. (2009) · Annual Review of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.032408.153553 · Cited by 719
Metadata
- Authors
- Borsboom, D.
- Venue
- Psychometrika
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2006-09
- Volume
- 71
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 425-440
- ISSN
- 0033-3123 (ISSN-L)
- 1860-0980
- OpenAlex
- W2141730267
- Cited by
- 547
- References
- 8
- FWCI
- 24.94
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
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