Psychometric Test Analysis Report - Assignment Example

Psychometric Test Analysis Report Name: Instructor: Date: Table of contents Introduction………………………………………………………………………3 Methodology……………………………………………………………………..4 Data collection……………………………………………………………………5 Analysis………………………………………………………………………….8 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….…9 References……………………………………………………………………....11 Introduction Psychometrics is one of the most common fields of study in psychology. It is primarily concerned with the theories and reliable techniques that are used in psychologicalmeasurement. The measurement of the psychological processes comprises the quantization of several factors including personal attitudes, the amount of knowledge, personality traits of the subject, the physical, mental and psychological abilities of the subject, and also the quantification of the education levels (Kaplan 2010). Essentially, the scope of psychometrics is deeply interested with the formation and setting up systems to validate the measurement of the parameters used. The instruments used are statistical and they primary occur in the form of questionnaires to fill, oral and written interviews, psychological and mental tests, and also the careful assessment of the personality of individuals. As such, the characteristics of individuals are evaluated through these analyses. The psychometric process fundamentally involves two essential tasks in the research process. The two are: systematic and elaborate procedure and instrument construction; and secondly, the proper and academic method development. The later process also refines the theoretical approaches that are used in the statistical measurement (Thompson 2004). This paper summarizes and analyses results of an experiment/ data collected from individuals for a psychometric analysis. Psychometric analysis is a good and elaborate manner to measure the social sciences and specifically the psychological measure. Measurement that is applied in psychology is no different to the measurement that is applied in other areas such as mathematics and physics. According to Reese (1943), all physicists do measure the operations they find as long as the criteria that is needed is met. Therefore, all the individuals practicing psychology do not have any other option apart from to applying a similar principle. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between the health attitudes that people poses versus their physical and psychological health status. As such various psychometric parameter will be used to collect and quantitate the data and a statistical software (SPSS) used in the analysis and reporting because of its superb visual aids and accuracy. Methodology Just like in any other experiment or research, psychometric analysis involves the formulation of a hypothesis data collection analysis and presentation. In the study, data was systematically collected from a number of respondents. This data contained questions that the people had to answer. These questions were related to the mental and physical health of the individuals. The individuals expressed their health concerns that actually determine their health status. The questions are aimed at establishing the fact whether the psychological attitudes of the people influence their health status. Some of the questions asked are if the individual would get better if they look after themselves, if their actions determine their health, if a healthy lifestyle is the key to staying well, whether is they go out without a jacket they are bound to get ill, whether going to the gym is their responsibility, whether they become ill because they have done something wrong, if the better they look after themselves the quicker their recovery will be, if they don’t eat healthy they will fall ill and many other questions. All the above questions are directly linked psychologically to the health status of the individual. This data can help to establish the psychological measurement of a person’s attitude towards their health and how it affects their health. After the data is collected, it is analyzed using reliable standard statistical software SPSS. This helps in the establishment of the truth of the data analyzed accurately with minimal errors. All psychoeducational variables and constants are put into consideration and thus the method considered reliable. The authenticity of the results is assured as long as the correct data was fed into the software. The validity, reliability and quality of the tests and psychological measurementsare based on the set standards for psychometric analysis and reporting. Data collection The data was collected from a varied population sample. This included people of various ages ranging from 20 years to 50 years. These were both male and female however most were female. The total number of people whose opinions were collected was one hundred and forty two. Women being one hundred and twelve while men thirty. The first sample contained questions administered to people on the scale of beds internal. The first sample was to relate an individual’s attitudes towards their personal health. This was to determine the people who believe that they have most control over their health and that they are the masters of their own destiny. The questions for this sample group were as follows: If I get sick, I will get better if I look after myself. My actions determine my health. A healthy lifestyle is the key to staying well. If I go out without a jacket, I’m bound to get ill. I am responsible for eating my five a day. Going to the gym is my responsibility. What I choose to eat influences my weight. If I stay positive my health will improve. The better I look after myself and my body’s condition while ill the quicker my recovery will be. No one can influence my health apart from myself. I become ill because I’ve done something wrong. When I get ill, I know what to do to make myself better again. When I get sick, it is my own fault. If I exercise regularly I rarely have to see my doctor. If I don’t eat healthily, I will fall ill. If I’m healthy and well, it is because I look after myself. I can avoid illness by looking after myself. The second was on Bedfordshire. This was on the basis of the influence of fate, chance and luck in relation to people’s health. This was to gauge the individuals who believe that their health is more influenced by supernatural aspects rather than themselves or people stronger than them. Most of this population sample believe in thecoinsidences of life and nature more than anything else and their lives are on auto pilot they are just on earth to live. The questions asked for this set group were as follows: Any illness I suffer is due to chance. There is nothing I can do to stop myself from getting ill. When I am well, it is due to good fortune. I cannot control whether I get ill or not. Neither my own or others actions has an effect on my health. If I feel ill, I turn to God. Doesn’t matter what I do, I know I will get ill sooner or later. I don’t worry about my health: what will be, will be. I have no control in whether I get ill or not. My health is down to luck. I’ll gain weight no matter what I eat. If I develop a terminal illness it was meant to happen. When I am sick it is purely down to Chance. Our health is determined by fate. I believe I have no control over how healthy I am. If I’m sick no one can help me. Everyone gets ill, it’s just chance whether I do too. There is nothing I can do to change my chances of getting ill. The third was still on the Bedfordshire scale. It was based on other powerful people like doctors being in control of one’s health rather than the individual. This was to determine the people who believe that they have limited control over their personal health. The questions they were asked were as follows: My recovery from sickness depends on my access to health professionals. If I don’t go and see the doctor when I am ill, it will last longer. My doctor knows what is best for me. If I need to stay healthy I need to listen to health professionals. My family plays a big role in my health. When I get sick, I know that I am being punished. My health is down to the education I was given. It’s down to the Government to ban smoking in order to help people to be healthy. My doctor knows better than me about my health. Scheduling regular visits and constant contact with my doctor is the perfect means for me to keep away from becoming sick. I won’t get better without expert help. I feel safer in the hands of the specialized professionals of my illness. Whether I smoke or not depends on what my friends do. As soon as I feel ill, I go straight to the doctor. The health professionals are in control of my health. If my friends smoke, I am more likely to smoke. When I am sick the help of family and friends helps me to recover. I will always fall ill if the people around me are ill. Analysis All the results were compared to the internationally set scales for psychometric analysis. The relationship between the psychological attitudes and an individual’s health is clear from the above results. Psychological factors that are experienced by everyone on a daily basis can affect health directly. For instance a psychological aspect like stress can cause the release of cortisol hormones have a negative effect, damaging the individual’s body over time. Psychological factors can also affect health indirectly. This is through the individual’s personal decisions in making choices and behavioral characteristics that can either pose harmful effects or offer total protection to their health status (Ogden 2012). From the results, the people who believe that they have most control over their health actually fall ill less often maintain a better heath status compared to others. These are mainly the younger percentage of the sample data collected. This control gives them more ability to survive in harsh environmental conditions. However, in case they don’t act as per their health principle for instance going out without a jacket they tend to fall it. Health psychologists tend to take a bio psychosocial approach most of the time. This is taken to mean that they presume and understand health to be the final result of not only of processes that are fully biological in nature like viruses or tumors but also of numerous psychological processes such as beliefs, thoughts and stress. They also believe that behaviorsalso influence health these include behaviors such as such as smoking and exercise. The people who believe in supernatural power over their health tend to be the older population. They tend to fall ill more often and take longer to heal. This is as a result of their personality beliefs. Health psychologists have found a concrete relationship between the characteristics of a personality exhibiting signs of being too impulsive, seeking emotional and mental thrill, being hostile for no rational reason, uncontrollable and ferocious anger issues, severe depression, to the instability of an individual’s emotions instability (Beirness 1993).Lastly the people who believe in a more powerful individual to control their health like doctors are the middle aged people. When they fall ill, they can only get better after they are seen by a medical personnel. Before that, they suffer a lot both physically and psychologically. Conclusion The relationship between the psychological attitude and the health status of an individual that was being studied in the paper is so intertwined that one cannot be critically analyzed without the other. This is because all the decisions, choices and emotional aspects of our lives are directly connected to our psychological perceptions of ourselves, others and the environment around us. As such, psychometrics comes in handy to measure the extent of this influence. The avenues of these research help in the expansion of the scope of health psychology. This is to levels beyond individual health to the main examination of economic and social determinants of health(David et. al 2011). The accuracy and reliability of the data is most important to the psychometric process as such, the use of SPSS software was necessary. The credibility of any research is based on the data collection methods, the sampling and the analysis of the information and this has been clearly demonstrated in the paper. References Beirness D (1993). Do we really drive as we live?: The role of personality factors in road crashes. Alcohol, Drugs & Driving, 9, 129–43. David F., Michael M, Brian E, Emee V. E (2011) Health Psychology. Theory-Research-Practice (3rdEd) Sage Publications. Kaplan, R.M., &Saccuzzo, D.P. (2010).Psychological Testing: Principles, Applications, and Issues. (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. Ogden, J. (2012). Health Psychology: A Textbook (5th ed.). Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press. Reese, T.W. (1943). "The application of the theory of physical measurement to the measurement of psychological magnitudes, with three experimental examples".Psychological Monographs55: 1–89. Thompson, B.R. (2004). Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis: Understanding Concepts and Applications.American Psychological Association. Wallston,&Wallston(1978) Development of the multi-dimesnional health locus of control (MHLC) scales. Health Education Monographs vol 6 No.2 Read More