Assessment, Statistics, and Research

    Assessment Instrument:   Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) The EAR is a scientific instrument for recording short snippets of ambient sounds (e.g., 30 sec every 12.5 min). Participants activate an app or wear a device while the recorder creates audio files. Inventor: The EAR was developed by psychological scientist Matthais Mehl. DATA : The raw data are acoustic files. Data Analyses: Researchers can listen to the data or read a transcript to search for targeted data. For example, a researcher could search for evidence of humility or anger. Researchers could use a coding strategy to identify multiple target sounds, words, or phrases. The data could be analyzed for social environmental data using the Social Environment Coding of Sound Inventory (SECSI; Mehl & Pennebaker, 2003). Researchers can submit the data for qualitative or quantitative text analysis. Examples of participant EAR data (See Tackman & Mehl, 2003.) 1. Location of the person (e.g.,

  Assessment name: Behavioral, Emotional, and Social Skills Inventory (BESSI) Scale overview: The Behavioral, Emotional, and Social Skills Inventory (BESSI) helps identify five groups of skills associated with health, happiness and success.   Response Type: Items are rated on a scale of agreement from Scales: As of the date of this writing, the researchers identified five skill categories also called domains. There are 32 skills called facets linked to domains. 1.     Self-management skills , used to pursue goals and complete tasks 2.     Social engagement skills , used to actively communicate with other people 3.     Cooperation skills , used to make and keep positive social relationships 4.     Emotional resilience skills , used to regulate emotions and moods 5.     Innovation skills , used to learn from new ideas and experiences There are also compound skills that combine skills from multiple domains. There are several versions of the BESSI, which yield var

  Scale name: NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scales- for Child ADHD diagnoses Scales overview: The NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scales are behavior rating scales used by clinicians as part of the diagnosis of ADHD in children. The scales assess ADHD symptoms and other conditions that may occur with ADHD or should be ruled out. Response Type: Most of the items are rated on a 4-point scale of frequency: Never, Occasionally, Often, Very Often Scale items The parent scale: Items 1 to 47 assess symptoms and items 48 to 55 assess performance. The teacher scale: Items 1 to 35 assess symptoms, items 36 to 38 assess academic performance, and items 39-43 assess classroom performance. There are parent and teacher follow-up forms available. The NICHQ provides scoring guidelines in their scale packet. Reliability: Bard et al. (2013) reported coefficient alpha values from .91 to .94 on the parent form and test-retest reliability was above .80 for the total scale scores. Wolraich et