Study Design
Study Design
This chapter provides an overview of the design of the psychometric study. First, sampling issues are addressed, including who should be recruited and in what numbers, with guidance on anticipating the impact of planned statistical analyses. The relative merits of “clinical” and “non-clinical” samples are discussed, and the chapter reflects on “real world” gaps between methodological ideals (i.e., probability samples) and the accessibility of populations of interest for social service and health care providers. The development of a complete data collection package, including its components, layout, and sequence is outlined. Incorporation of relevant demographic indicators and the inclusion of standardized and non-standardized measures for examining evidence of construct and criterion-based validity are discussed. Well-designed scales and tests must be validated in thoughtfully constructed studies where recruitment and training of associates, anticipation of labor and costs, and plans for data management and entry have all been carefully considered.
Keywords: sampling, sample size, data collection instrument, coding, content sequencing, reactivity, instrument layout, validation components, estimating costs, training associates
Oxford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .