Statistical topics covered in the Psychological Measurement Module:
 

	Classical Test Teory
	Reliability
	Validity

Introduction to Module:

The research questions addressed in this module concern how we go about measuring psychological phenomena. As an example, we are going to look at the measurement of emotional intelligence. Recently, a book was published in the popular press about emotional intelligence, that is, the ability to control the expression of emotional experience. According to the author of this popular book, emotionally intelligent individuals are aware of their emotions, are able to manage or regulate their emotions, have emotional self control, can recognize emotions in others, and are socially skilled (Goleman, 1995; Salovey & Mayer, 1990). As a psychological scientist, you can ask the following questions:

	How do we go about measuring emotional intelligence?
	How do we know that we are measuring it accurately?
	How do we know that we are measuring what we want to measure and not something else which might look like emotional intelligence?
	How can we be sure that our definition of emotional intelligence is correct?

We will examine these questions in different ways to get a feel for how psychological scientists go about measuring psychological characteristics and phenomena. The data for this module comes from Penn State undergraduates enrolled in undergraduate psychology courses over the last three academic years. The questionaire is on the next page for you to fill out.