Quantitative Psychology Commons^™

Development And Validation Of A State-Based Measure Of Emotion Dysregulation: The State Difficulties In Emotion Regulation Scale (S-Ders), Jason M. Lavender, Matthew T. Tull, David Dilillo, Terri Messman-Moore, Kim L. Gratz

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Existing measures of emotion dysregulation typically assess dispositional tendencies and are therefore not well suited for study designs that require repeated assessments over brief intervals. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a state-based multidimensional measure of emotion dysregulation. Psychometric properties of the State Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (S-DERS) were examined in a large representative community sample of young adult women drawn from four sites (N = 484). Exploratory factor analysis suggested a four-factor solution, with results supporting the internal consistency, construct validity, and predictive validity of the total scale and the four subscales: Nonacceptance (i.e., …

Common And Distinct Brain Regions Support Numerical And Non-Numerical Magnitude Processing: A Functional Neuroimaging Meta-Analysis, Helen Moriah Sokolowski

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

A current debate is whether number is processed using a number-specific system or a general magnitude processing system used for non-numerical magnitudes such as space. Activation likelihood estimation (ALE) was used to conduct the first quantitative meta-analysis of 20 empirical neuroimaging papers examining neural activation during numerical and non-numerical magnitude processing. Foci were compiled to generate probabilistic maps of activation for symbolic numerical magnitudes, nonsymbolic numerical magnitudes and non-numerical magnitudes. Conjunction analyses revealed overlapping activation for symbolic, nonsymbolic and non-numerical magnitudes in frontal and parietal lobes. Contrast analyses revealed specific activation in the left superior parietal lobule (SPL) and right …

Development And Preliminary Validation Of A Nonmedical Prescription Drug Motives Questionnaire, Lauren Ashleigh Milner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The prevalence of nonmedical prescription drug (NMPD) use continues to increase among emerging adult populations; however, little is known about the motivations behind this use. The current study aimed to extend previous research by developing and validating the first known comprehensive NMPD motives measure. As such, the primary focus of the current study was to examine evidence for the reliability and validity of the NMPD Motives Questionnaire by assessing the factor structure, internal consistency, and construct validity of the motives scale. Participants were drawn from a larger study of college student substance use behaviors and attitudes (N = 1,427; Mage= …

Application Of Item Response Theory To Measures Of Verbal Learning, Indrani K. Thiruselvam

Dissertations (1934 -)

This study utilized item response theory (IRT) methods to investigate if item parameters of select trials in the California Verbal Learning Test-Second Edition (CVLT-II; Delis, Kramer, Kaplan, & Ober, 2000) and the Logical Memory subtests of the Wechsler Memory Scales – Fourth Edition (WMS-IV; Wechsler, 2009) vary as a function of the serial position effect. In addition, this study compared the effectiveness of CVLT-II and LM in quantifying verbal memory functioning, and determined if a weighted scoring approach improves the quantification of verbal memory. Archival data from 755 individuals (516 college students, 239 patients at a neuropsychology clinic) were utilized …

Examining The Measurement Invariance Of The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form Internalizing Specific Problem Scales In African- American And Caucasian Men, Megan Anne Brokenbourgh

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Test bias has long been an area of investigation in the personality assessment literature, including the MMPI-2-RF. Research on previous versions of the MMPI and MMPI-2-RF has pointed to mixed results. The current study aims to examine test bias on the MMPI-2-RF’s nine Internalizing Specific Problem Scales by examining measurement invariance using MIMIC modeling and investigating differential item functioning (DIF). After removal of invalid protocols, the first sample consisted of 2,980 protocols from various settings requested from Pearson (255 African American and 2,755 Caucasian protocols). The second sample consisted of 1,379 valid protocols from psychiatric inpatient settings (1,245 Caucasian and …

Effects Of Varying Degrees Of Fixed And Random Responding On The Validity Of Score Interpretation For The Sp And Psy-5 Scales Of The Mmpi-2-Rf, Joseph Brooks Minifie

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory – 2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2- RF; Tellegen & Ben-Porath, 2008/2011) is a widely used self-report measure of psychopathology and personality. However, the self-report format of the MMPI-2-RF suggests that interpretation of its scales and the clinical recommendations that follow are vulnerable to invalid response styles. This dissertation builds upon previous research (Handel, Ben-Porath, Tellegen, & Archer, 2010) to examine the effect of random and fixed responding, as measured by the VRIN-r and TRIN-r Scales, on the 28 SP and PSY-5 Scales. A computer simulation procedure was used to insert increasing degrees of inconsistent responding into …

Mixed-Effects Location-Scale Models For Conditionally Normally Distributed Repeated-Measures Data, Ryan Walters

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Hypotheses about psychological processes are most frequently dedicated to individual mean differences, but individual differences in variability are likely to be important as well. The mixed-effects location-scale model estimates individual differences in both mean level and variability in a single model, and represents an important advance in testing variability-related hypotheses. However, the mixed-effects location-scale model remains relatively novel to empirical scientists as statistical software is often handicapped by more complex models and a paucity of methodological studies exist examining the statistical properties of this model.

This dissertation investigates the mixed-effects location-scale model through the development of open-source software for its …

Time Series Analysis For Psychological Research: Examining And Forecasting Change, Andrew T. Jebb, Louis Tay, Wei Wang, Qiming Huang

Publications and Research

Psychological research has increasingly recognized the importance of integrating temporal dynamics into its theories, and innovations in longitudinal designs and analyses have allowed such theories to be formalized and tested. However, psychological researchers may be relatively unequipped to analyze such data, given its many characteristics and the general complexities involved in longitudinal modeling. The current paper introduces time series analysis to psychological research, an analytic domain that has been essential for understanding and predicting the behavior of variables across many diverse fields. First, the characteristics of time series data are discussed. Second, different time series modeling techniques are surveyed that …

Cross-Cultural Adaptation, Validation And Reliability Of The Brazilian Version Of The Richmond Compulsive Buying Scale, Priscilla Leite, Bernard Range, Monika Kukar-Kinney, Nancy Ridgway, Kent Monroe, Rodolfo Ribas Jr., J. Landeira-Fernandez, Antonio Egidio Nardi, Adriana Silva

Nancy Ridgway

Objective: To present the process of transcultural adaptation of the Richmond Compulsive Buying Scale to Brazilian Portuguese. Methods: For the semantic adaptation step, the scale was translated to Portuguese and then back-translated to English by two professional translators and one psychologist, without any communication between them. The scale was then applied to 20 participants from the general population for language adjustments. For the construct validation step, an exploratory factor analysis was performed, using the scree plot test, principal component analysis for factor extraction, and Varimax rotation. For convergent validity, the correlation matrix was analyzed through Pearson’s coefficient. Results: The scale …

Asking The Right Questions: Insights Into Assessing Intercultural Sensitivity, Anjana Balakrishnan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Intercultural sensitivity represents a well-studied interdisciplinary construct which is measured using multiple tools. However, more effective measurement methods are possible and also needed. This study was intended to refine a well-known tool, i.e., the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale-ISS. New items were written and tested with existing items. 269 undergraduate students completed questionnaires assessing Big Five personality variables, emotional intelligence, Honesty-Humility, intercultural sensitivity, social desirability, and social dominance orientation. Exploratory factor analyses suggested two plausible final scales: 30-items with four-factors (RISS-V1) and 25-items with three-factors (RISS-V2). Both RISS versions demonstrated full scale, subscale, and test-retest reliability. Social dominance orientation correlated negatively while …

A Signal Detection Experiment With Limited Number Of Trials, Tadamasa Sawada

MODVIS Workshop

Signal detection theory has been well accepted in vision science to measure human sensitivity to stimuli in a Psychophysical experiment. The theory is formulated so that the measured sensitivity is independent from a response bias (criterion). The formulation is based on an assumption that number of trials in the experiment is infinite but this assumption cannot be satisfied in practice. The assumption came from two normal distributions used in the formulation. The distributions respectively represent a set of signal trial and that of noise trials in the experiment. In this study, I will show how the violation of the assumption …

Binocular 3d Motion Perception As Bayesian Inference, Martin Lages, Suzanne Heron

MODVIS Workshop

The human visual system encodes monocular motion and binocular disparity input before it is integrated into a single 3D percept. Here we propose a geometric-statistical model of human 3D motion perception that solves the aperture problem in 3D by assuming that (i) velocity constraints arise from inverse projection of local 2D velocity constraints in a binocular viewing geometry, (ii) noise from monocular motion and binocular disparity processing is independent, and (iii) slower motions are more likely to occur than faster ones. In two experiments we found that instantiation of this Bayesian model can explain perceived 3D line motion direction under …

The Effects Of A Planned Missingness Design On Examinee Motivation And Psychometric Quality, Matthew S. Swain

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Assessment practitioners in higher education face increasing demands to collect assessment and accountability data to make important inferences about student learning and institutional quality. The validity of these high-stakes decisions is jeopardized, particularly in low-stakes testing contexts, when examinees do not expend sufficient motivation to perform well on the test. This study introduced planned missingness as a potential solution. In planned missingness designs, data on all items are collected but each examinee only completes a subset of items, thus increasing data collection efficiency, reducing examinee burden, and potentially increasing data quality. The current scientific reasoning test served as the Long …

Addressing Serial-Order And Negative-Keying Effects: A Mixed-Methods Study, Jerusha J. Gerstner

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Researchers have studied item serial-order effects on attitudinal instruments by considering how item-total correlations differ based on the item’s placement within a scale (e.g., Hamilton & Shuminsky, 1990). In addition, other researchers have focused on item negative-keying effects on attitudinal instruments (e.g., Marsh, 1996). Researchers consistently have found that negatively-keyed items relate to one another above and beyond their relationship to the construct intended to be measured. However, only one study (i.e., Bandalos & Coleman, 2012) investigated the combined effects of serial-order and negative-keying on attitudinal instruments. Their brief study found some improvements in fit when attitudinal items were presented …

Examining The Performance Of The Metropolis-Hastings Robbins-Monro Algorithm In The Estimation Of Multilevel Multidimensional Irt Models, Bozhidar M. Bashkov

Dissertations, 2014-2019

The purpose of this study was to review the challenges that exist in the estimation of complex (multidimensional) models applied to complex (multilevel) data and to examine the performance of the recently developed Metropolis-Hastings Robbins-Monro (MH-RM) algorithm (Cai, 2010a, 2010b), designed to overcome these challenges and implemented in both commercial and open-source software programs. Unlike other methods, which either rely on high-dimensional numerical integration or approximation of the entire multidimensional response surface, MH-RM makes use of Fisher’s Identity to employ stochastic imputation (i.e., data augmentation) via the Metropolis-Hastings sampler and then apply the stochastic approximation method of Robbins and Monro …

Extending An Irt Mixture Model To Detect Random Responders On Non-Cognitive Polytomously Scored Assessments, Mandalyn R. Swanson

Dissertations, 2014-2019

This study represents an attempt to distinguish two classes of examinees – random responders and valid responders – on non-cognitive assessments in low-stakes testing. The majority of existing literature regarding the detection of random responders in low-stakes settings exists in regard to cognitive tests that are dichotomously scored. However, evidence suggests that random responding occurs on non-cognitive assessments, and as with cognitive measures, the data derived from such measures are used to inform practice. Thus, a threat to test score validity exists if examinees’ response selections do not accurately reflect their underlying level on the construct being assessed. As with …

The Effects Of Ordinal Data On Coefficient Alpha, Kathryn E. Pinder

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Given coefficient alpha’s wide prevalence as a measure of internal reliability, it is important to know the conditions under which it is an appropriate estimate of reliability. The present paper explores alpha’s assumption of uncorrelated errors when used with ordinal data. Alpha overestimates true reliability when correlated errors are present. In this paper, I use a simulation study to recreate three mechanisms proposed to create correlated errors in ordinal data. The first mechanism, misclassification error, occurs when there are correlated measurement errors present in the data. The second mechanism, grouping error, occurs when there are not enough categories to represent …

Propensity Score Matching In Higher Education Assessment, Heather D. Harris

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The applied nature of higher education assessment does not lend itself to rigorous experimental research designs. However, assessment practitioners would like to make claims about the influence of educational programs on student learning outcomes. Propensity score matching (PSM) methods are quasi-experimental techniques that allow researchers to control for known confounding variables. In the context of higher education, PSM techniques allow assessment practitioners to control for confounding variables related to students’ self-selected participation in university programs. Research and recommendations on how to apply PSM techniques are scattered throughout several disciplines. However, additional research is needed to evaluate how well PSM techniques …

Persons Can Speak Louder Than Variables: Person-Centered Analyses And The Prediction Of Student Success, Elisabeth M. Pyburn

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

In order to ensure that analyses are appropriate for one’s research question(s), it is important to consider whether a person-centered or variable-centered approach is needed. Person-centered approaches are often not considered in situations for which they would be appropriate. To that end, a description of the characteristics and procedures of two common person-centered analyses (cluster analysis and mixture modeling) are provided. Although both analyses accomplish the same general aim – to group persons based on their similarity on a series of variables, thus providing ease of interpretation – the methods employed for each analysis differ considerably. As illustration, both analyses …

The Relationship Between Demands And Resources And Teacher Burnout: A Fifteen-Year Meta-Analysis, Tammy Marie Stewart

Doctoral Dissertations

This meta-analysis explored the phenomenon of teacher burnout— the biggest contributor to teacher attrition (Owens, 2013; Unterbrink, 2014; Yu, 2015). The focus of this study was to use meta-analytical procedures to explore the relationship between burnout dimensions (i.e., emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and feelings of personal accomplishment) and specific demand and resource correlates. Demand correlates included work overload, role conflict, role ambiguity, and student misbehavior. Resource correlates included peer support, supervisory support, and decision-making. This meta-analytical research method encompassed fifteen years of published and unpublished studies from January 2000 through January 2015. A total of 116 studies met the following inclusion …