After reading Chapter 6, you should have mastered each of the following objectives.
- Define the terms measurement, evaluation, and assessment. Differentiate one from the other.
- Identify two reasons why measurement is a critically important component of quantitative
research.
- Differentiate the four measurement scales and provide educationally relevant examples of each.
- Define the term descriptive statistics.
- Describe the characteristics of a frequency distribution, frequency polygon, and histogram.
Explain how each can be used to describe data.
- Describe the characteristics of a normal distribution, a positively skewed distribution, and an
negatively skewed distribution.
- Explain the concept of central tendency and describe the characteristics of the mode, median,
and mean as measures of central tendency.
- Explain the concept of variation and describe th characteristic of the range and standard deviation
as measures of variation.
- Explain the relationship between the standard deviation and the normal curve.
- Explain the concept of relationship and describe the characteristics of the correlation coefficient
as a measure of relationship. Interpret correlation coefficients in terms of direction and strength.
- Define validity as it relates to educational measures, identify five characteristics of validity, and
explain the effect of validity on research.
- Identify three sources of validity evidence and give an example of each.
- Define reliability of measurement as it relates to educational measures, identify several sources of
measurement error, and explain the effect of reliability of research.
- Identify five types of reliability estimates and give an example of each.
- Identify the conditions affecting reliability and identify the ways by which it can be enhanced.
- Explain the relationship between validity and reliability.
