EPSE 528 Questions with Correct Solutions
Question:
1. Acquiescence bias
Answer:
A response tendency to agree with statements regardless of their content. For example,
someone might repeatedly select "agree" on a questionnaire simply because they tend to
agree rather than because each statement accurately describes them.
Question:
2. Balanced scales
Answer:
Scales containing a relatively equal number of positively and negatively keyed items. They
can help identify or reduce acquiescence bias because agreeing with every item will not
consistently produce a high score on the construct.
Question:
3. Criterion-referenced vs. norm-referenced test (interpretations)
Answer:
Criterion-referenced: interprets performance relative to a specific standard or set of skills
(e.g., whether a student has mastered 80% of multiplication skills). Norm-referenced:
interprets performance by comparing an individual to other people/a reference group (e.g.,
scoring in the 90th percentile).
Question:
4. Demand characteristics
Answer:
Features of a study that give participants clues about the purpose or hypothesis, potentially
causing them to change their behaviour to match—or sometimes resist—what they think the
researcher expects.
Question:
5. Extreme vs. moderate responding
Answer:
Extreme responding: tendency to choose the endpoints of a response scale (e.g., 1 or 5).
Moderate responding: tendency to choose middle categories (e.g., 3), regardless of actual
beliefs or characteristics. Both are response styles that can distort measurement.
Question:
6. Formative vs. summative evaluation
,Answer:
Formative evaluation: occurs during learning/program implementation and is used to provide
feedback and improve performance. Summative evaluation: occurs after a period of
learning/program implementation and evaluates the overall outcome or achievement. Think:
formative = improve; summative = evaluate.
Question:
7. Hawthorne effect
Answer:
People change their behaviour because they know they are being observed or studied. The
change is due to awareness/attention rather than necessarily the intervention itself.
Question:
8. John Henry effect
Answer:
Members of a control/comparison group work harder than usual because they know they are
being compared with an intervention group. This can reduce the apparent difference between
groups.
Question:
9. Pygmalion effect
Answer:
Expectations about another person influence that person's performance. For example, a
teacher who expects certain students to perform well may behave differently toward them,
potentially contributing to better performance. Sometimes called an expectancy
effect/self-fulfilling prophecy.
Question:
10. Impression management vs self-deception
Answer:
Both can contribute to socially desirable responding. Impression management: consciously
presenting yourself in an overly favourable way to influence how others see you.
Self-deception: genuinely believing an unrealistically positive view of yourself; the distortion
is less conscious/intentional.
Question:
11. Malingering
, Answer:
Intentionally exaggerating, fabricating, or feigning symptoms or poor performance for an
external benefit, such as financial compensation, avoiding work, or obtaining another desired
outcome.
Question:
12. Maximum performance vs typical response tests
Answer:
Maximum performance tests: ask what a person can do when trying their best; usually have
correct/incorrect answers (e.g., achievement, aptitude, intelligence tests). Typical response
tests: assess what a person usually does, thinks, feels, or prefers; generally have no
objectively correct answer (e.g., personality or attitude measures).
Question:
13. Measurement
Answer:
The systematic process of assigning numbers or categories to characteristics according to
specified rules so that attributes or constructs can be represented and studied. Importantly,
we usually measure an attribute of a person, not the whole person.
Question:
14. Objective vs. subjective vs. projective tests
Answer:
Objective: scoring follows standardized rules and minimizes scorer judgment (e.g.,
multiple-choice achievement test). Subjective: scoring requires human judgment or
interpretation (e.g., essay response). Projective: presents ambiguous stimuli and asks
respondents to interpret/respond to them, with the idea that responses may reveal underlying
psychological processes (e.g., Rorschach).
Question:
15. Psychometrics
Answer:
The field concerned with the theory and practice of psychological and educational
measurement, including the development and evaluation of tests and measures, particularly
their reliability and validity.
Question:
16. Random (or careless) responding
Question:
1. Acquiescence bias
Answer:
A response tendency to agree with statements regardless of their content. For example,
someone might repeatedly select "agree" on a questionnaire simply because they tend to
agree rather than because each statement accurately describes them.
Question:
2. Balanced scales
Answer:
Scales containing a relatively equal number of positively and negatively keyed items. They
can help identify or reduce acquiescence bias because agreeing with every item will not
consistently produce a high score on the construct.
Question:
3. Criterion-referenced vs. norm-referenced test (interpretations)
Answer:
Criterion-referenced: interprets performance relative to a specific standard or set of skills
(e.g., whether a student has mastered 80% of multiplication skills). Norm-referenced:
interprets performance by comparing an individual to other people/a reference group (e.g.,
scoring in the 90th percentile).
Question:
4. Demand characteristics
Answer:
Features of a study that give participants clues about the purpose or hypothesis, potentially
causing them to change their behaviour to match—or sometimes resist—what they think the
researcher expects.
Question:
5. Extreme vs. moderate responding
Answer:
Extreme responding: tendency to choose the endpoints of a response scale (e.g., 1 or 5).
Moderate responding: tendency to choose middle categories (e.g., 3), regardless of actual
beliefs or characteristics. Both are response styles that can distort measurement.
Question:
6. Formative vs. summative evaluation
,Answer:
Formative evaluation: occurs during learning/program implementation and is used to provide
feedback and improve performance. Summative evaluation: occurs after a period of
learning/program implementation and evaluates the overall outcome or achievement. Think:
formative = improve; summative = evaluate.
Question:
7. Hawthorne effect
Answer:
People change their behaviour because they know they are being observed or studied. The
change is due to awareness/attention rather than necessarily the intervention itself.
Question:
8. John Henry effect
Answer:
Members of a control/comparison group work harder than usual because they know they are
being compared with an intervention group. This can reduce the apparent difference between
groups.
Question:
9. Pygmalion effect
Answer:
Expectations about another person influence that person's performance. For example, a
teacher who expects certain students to perform well may behave differently toward them,
potentially contributing to better performance. Sometimes called an expectancy
effect/self-fulfilling prophecy.
Question:
10. Impression management vs self-deception
Answer:
Both can contribute to socially desirable responding. Impression management: consciously
presenting yourself in an overly favourable way to influence how others see you.
Self-deception: genuinely believing an unrealistically positive view of yourself; the distortion
is less conscious/intentional.
Question:
11. Malingering
, Answer:
Intentionally exaggerating, fabricating, or feigning symptoms or poor performance for an
external benefit, such as financial compensation, avoiding work, or obtaining another desired
outcome.
Question:
12. Maximum performance vs typical response tests
Answer:
Maximum performance tests: ask what a person can do when trying their best; usually have
correct/incorrect answers (e.g., achievement, aptitude, intelligence tests). Typical response
tests: assess what a person usually does, thinks, feels, or prefers; generally have no
objectively correct answer (e.g., personality or attitude measures).
Question:
13. Measurement
Answer:
The systematic process of assigning numbers or categories to characteristics according to
specified rules so that attributes or constructs can be represented and studied. Importantly,
we usually measure an attribute of a person, not the whole person.
Question:
14. Objective vs. subjective vs. projective tests
Answer:
Objective: scoring follows standardized rules and minimizes scorer judgment (e.g.,
multiple-choice achievement test). Subjective: scoring requires human judgment or
interpretation (e.g., essay response). Projective: presents ambiguous stimuli and asks
respondents to interpret/respond to them, with the idea that responses may reveal underlying
psychological processes (e.g., Rorschach).
Question:
15. Psychometrics
Answer:
The field concerned with the theory and practice of psychological and educational
measurement, including the development and evaluation of tests and measures, particularly
their reliability and validity.
Question:
16. Random (or careless) responding
