An Overview of Psychological Measurement

Abstract

Because this book is being written for clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, and kindred professionals, in this chapter it will be assumed that the reader is already familiar with fundamental issues relating to behavioral measurement and, consequently, that there will be no need to discuss low-level principles. Rather, the discussion will center on controversial issues that are of immediate importance to the professional clinician or researcher in the behavioral sciences. Whereas the examples chosen for this chapter to illustrate principles of measurement are particularly applicable to clinical diagnosis, the principles are quite general to empirical science. Because some methods of statistical and mathematical analysis are intimately related to the development and use of measurement methods, critical comments will be made about some prominent approaches to statistical analysis, but details regarding their applications will be left to referenced sources rather than be discussed in detail here. (Any reader who is not already familiar with fundamental principles of psychometric theory and analysis, or would like a refresher course in that regard, might want to consult my book Psychometric Theory, 1978.)