Assessment, Statistics, and Research

  Scale name:    Behaviors Toward God Scale (BTGS) Scale overview: The Behaviors Toward God Scale (BTGS) is an 18-item self-report measure of  behavioral  responses toward God when people experience a spiritual or religious struggle. The items are grouped into four subscales. Authors: Julie J. Exline et al. (2021) Response Type:    Participants read a statement and rate their behavioral response from 0 = not at all to 10 = extremely. Subscales: Four (sample item in parentheses) 1. Approach – draw close (tried to trust God) 2. Disengage - turn away or exit (ignored God) 3. Protest-   complain, argue, or question (asked God "Why?") 4. Suppress – avoid or minimize negative feelings toward God (tried to hide feelings of anger or disappointment toward God)   Reliability: alpha values for the four subscales ranged from .80 to .89 in study 1 and .79 to .91 in study 2 (Exline et al., 2021) Validity: The Exline  et al. 20...

  Scale name : Enneagram [Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator [ RHETI ® ] Scale overview: There is more than one version of the Enneagram, which purports to measure how an individual’s personality fits with nine types. The version referred to in this post is the  RHETI ® —see above for the full name. A study by Newgent et al. (2004) used the 144-item forced choice format. Authors: Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson Response Type: Forced-choice format Subscales: There are nine types referred to by number and a label: 1 Reformer- principled, idealistic 2 Helper- caring, interpersonal 3 Achiever- adaptable, success-oriented 4. Individualist- romantic, introspective 5 Investigator- intense, cerebral 6 Loyalist- committed, security-oriented 7 Enthusiast- busy, productive 8 Challenger- powerful, dominating 9 Peacemaker- easy-going, self-effacing More detailed descriptions can be found at The Enneagram Institute Sample item: (Newgent, et al., 2004, p...

Variance is a measure of the dispersion of values in a distribution of values.  In psychology and behavioral science statistics, the variance is typically a reference to the extent to which numerical values vary around the arithmetic mean of a data set. Theoretically, the values vary around a population mean but in most cases, researchers work with samples. In statistics, write sigma squared for the population variance σ 2 Write final form sigma squared for the sample variance  ς2 In reports, write VAR for variance. How it works If we have a set of different numerical values such as scores on a test we can calculate a mean, which is the average of all the scores divided by the number of scores. The difference of one score from the mean is a deviation score. X is a score and the Greek letter mu μ is the symbol for the population mean. In a sample, which is what we normally have in psychology, we subtract a score X from the sample mean M . Thus, X - M = the deviation score....

  Factor analysis (FA)  is a statistical method of reducing a large set of data to a smaller set by identifying patterns in the data that have common characteristics. Factor analysis is sometimes called data reduction or dimension reduction. The original numerical values in the data set are observed variables (also called manifest variables)  such as the items in a large survey or test. Factor analysis may find patterns characterized by a shared statistical relationship representing a factor, which is also called a dimension . A researcher examines the content of the items linked to this factor and chooses a factor label such as verbal skills for related items on an intelligence test. The factors may be treated as variables in additional research. These are secondary variables. Because they are created from the observed variables, they are considered latent variables. For example, if 5 items on a personality test are associated with one factor labeled "agreeableness" then...

  Scale name: Perceived Conflict between Evolution and Religion (PCoRE) Scale overview: Authors: M. Elizabeth Barnes, K. Supriya, Yi Zheng, Julie A. Roberts, and Sara E. Brownell Response Type: Participants rate each item on a 5-point Likert-type scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree.   Subscales with a sample item: There are four subscales as follows:   1. Perceived conflict between evolution and belief in God My belief in God makes it harder to believe that all of life on Earth evolved from ancient microscopic life.   2 . Perceived conflict between evolution and religious teachings The teachings of my religion contradict that all of life on Earth evolved from ancient microscopic life.   3 . Perceived conflict with evolution among religious community My religious community does not believe that all of life on Earth evolved from ancient microscopic life.   4. Perceived conflict between evolution and religious beliefs ...

  A z -score tells you the distance of the score from the arithmetic mean of a set of scores that are normally distributed. The z -score represents standard deviation units thus, a z -score of 1 means it is one standard deviation above the mean of the set of scores. A z -score of minus one (-1) means the score is one standard deviation below the mean of the set of scores. The z -scores are often plotted along the x -axis of  a normal distribution, which is sometimes called the bell curve. Use lower case italics when reporting z -scores in APA style. The upper case Z is a different score. You can calculate a  z -score by subtracting a raw score from the mean and dividing by the standard deviation of the set of scores. Example: A raw score on a test = 60. If the mean = 50 and the standard deviation = 10 then (60-50) = 10 and 10 divided by 10 = 1.0. The z score is 1.0, it is one standard deviation above the mean. Most z - scores fall between -3.0 and +3.0 but it is possibl...

  Graphic from  Pewresearch 2021 Pew Researchers have a great deal of experience in asking people questions. Formulating a good question for a survey is an important place to begin. However, another lesson from Pew is the additional data they gather. I noticed a large graphic illustrating how people in different groups answered one question. When conducting survey research it is critical to consider what we need to know about the people responding to a question or item to understand the meaning of their response. Consider Pew's survey item with two choices: "most things in society...      Can be pretty clearly divided into good and evil      Are too complicated to be divided into good and evil The graphic shows how different groups responded and allows for comparisons on the two ways to respond. Later, in the article, they compare political affiliations, which in the US means Republican and Democrat. This is worth studying as well. The article is ...