PSYC 3003 Wk 3 Discussion

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School

Walden University**We aren't endorsed by this school

Course

PSYC 3002

Subject

Psychology

Date

Dec 17, 2024

Pages

Uploaded by MajorInternetJellyfish51

I created a Likert scale about depression. In order to create a good Likert scale, I had to ask some questions backwards to avoid acquiescent responding. Acquiescent responding is alsoknown as a “yeah-saying bias.” This occurs when all the items in a fixed format scale are phrased in a way that makes it impossible to tell if the respondent is being truthful or just saying “yeah.” (Stangor, 2015. p. 76.)I turned my conceptual variable, depression, into a measurable variable by assessing theitems on the scale from one to five. The numbers that are gathered represent the conceptual variable, but in a format that is measurable. (Stangor, 2015. p.67.) The participants rated happiness and sadness on a scale that was dependent upon how strongly they either agreed or disagreed with each question. In order to assure my scale was reliable, I used the test-retest method. This is a way to “check reliability” by giving the participants the scale on one day, then giving them the exact same scale days later. If the test is reliable, then the answers should remain unchanged, or the same, which also means the answers are correlated. (Stangor, 2015. p.92.) I gave the scale on Saturday, then again on Wednesday, and the answers remained the same. Although I feel my scale is fairly reliable, there is a possibility that these answers were the same due to retesting effects. This occurs when a participant remembers how they answered the questions the first time, and in turn, answers the questions the second time in the same way. (Stangor, 2015. p.93.) My scale strength is discriminant validity. Of the other mood and thought scales I found, mine did not correlate, or match up, to any other scale that would measure a conceptual variable close to depression. The limitations on the validity of this scale, however, is that I cannot prove for the measure of depression taken by my scale; I am only able to attest to how my participants are feeling while taking the scale, not overall.My experience writing and administering the scale went pretty well. I used the Likert scale example on page 75 of the book which was easy enough to build upon. I emailed my participants the scale, and they sent it back to me promptly, which was great because I didn’t have to worry about lack of response.Reference:Stangor, C. (2015). Research methods for the behavioral sciences (5th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.