Statistical Analysis Stack Exchange
Statistical Analysis Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [psychology]

Psychology is an academic and applied discipline that involves the scientific study of mental functions and behaviors.

Psychology definition according to the American Psychological Association (APA):

"Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. The discipline embraces all aspects of the human experience — from the functions of the brain to the actions of nations, from child development to care for the aged. In every conceivable setting from scientific research centers to mental healthcare services, "the understanding of behavior" is the enterprise of psychologists."

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A psychology journal banned p-values and confidence intervals; is it indeed wise to stop using them?

On 25 February 2015, the journal Basic and Applied Social Psychology issued an editorial banning $p$-values and confidence intervals from all future papers. Specifically, they say (formatting and emphasis are mine): [...] prior to publication,…
amoeba
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Factor analysis of questionnaires composed of Likert items

I used to analyse items from a psychometric point of view. But now I am trying to analyse other types of questions on motivation and other topics. These questions are all on Likert scales. My initial thought was to use factor analysis, because the…
pbneau
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What is the difference between formative and reflective measurement models?

Can anyone provide examples as to why choose one over the other? Are they calculated diferently?
lf_araujo
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Is publishing work based on post hoc analysis problematic?

Nowadays, in the scientific domain, increasingly, people in the top position argue against doing post-hoc analysis and they advise against collecting a bunch of data and just make up a story after data collection and report the significant findings.…
JetLag
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How to deal with ceiling effect due to measurement tool?

I have collected psychophysiological data measuring the subjects' (two groups) ability to perceive vibration. A vibrating probe moves against the skin at smaller and smaller displacements, and the subject indicates when they feel the vibration. …
Cale
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Is it appropriate to treat n-point Likert scale data as n trials from a binomial process?

I've never liked how people typically analyze data from Likert scales as if error were continuous & Gaussian when there are reasonable expectations that these assumptions are violated at least at the extremes of the scales. What do you think of the…
Mike Lawrence
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Randomisation of non-random sample

I am always a bit surprised to see psychological adverts for participating in experimental studies. For sure, people who respond to these adverts are not randomly sampled and therefore are a self-selected population. Because is it known that…
giac
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EFA clearly supports one-factor, measure is internally consistent, but CFA has poor fit?

I am exploring the psychometric properties of a 10-item self-report measure. I have about 400 cases in two independent samples. The items are completed on 4-point Likert scales. An EFA clearly supports a one-factor solution (e.g., first eigenvalue…
Behacad
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What level to use when comparing subjects in a hierarchical Bayesian analysis?

Say that I have an experiment where I test the reaction time of a number of subjects where each subject makes many reaction time trials. In a Bayesian framework the reaction times ($y$) could be modeled by a hierarchical model with prior…
Rasmus Bååth
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What are the primary differences between Taxometric analyses (e.g., MAXCOV, MAXEIG) and Latent Class analyses?

Recent research has attempted to determine if certain psychological constructs are latently dimensional or taxonic (i.e., including taxons or classes). For example, researchers may be interested in finding out if there is a certain "class" of people…
Behacad
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Interpreting effect size

One of the most widely used interpretation of effect size is Cohen's $d$, as follows: $<.10$: trivial $[.10,.30]$: small to medium $[.30,.50]$: medium to large $>.50$: large to very large This appears to be the standard in psychology. I am…
Amarald
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Internet statistics resources suitable for psychology students doing research

I am working on a new webpage for my part-time job as a methodological/statistical consultant for (psychology) students at my university. On this website I would like to place several links to online recourses for clients to consult themselves. So I…
Sacha Epskamp
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Differences between tetrachoric and Pearson correlation

Currently I'm analysing around 300 items in the field of education. I'm interested in the dimensionality of the dataset. So I compute a matrix of tetrachoric correlation. The goal is to do a factor analysis on this matrix. By curiosity I compare to…
pbneau
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Quantitative methods and statistics conferences in psychology?

What are the most significant annual conferences focusing on quantitative methods in psychology? This could include but is not limited to psychometrics, mathematical psychology, and statistical methods in psychology. Rules: One conference per…
Jeromy Anglim
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Is it appropriate to identify and remove outliers because they cause problems?

This all pertains to my Psychology honours thesis. I have two groups (Autism and control) and all participants completed four tasks. It is very important to my study that the groups do not differ on reaction time in each of the tasks. However, they…
Sarah Brcan
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