Keith Markus' Urban Sprawl

  CRJ U80200 JJ
Advanced Quantitative Methods:  Measurement Theory
Course Information
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Syllabus
American Educational Research Association
Schedule
American Psychological Association

National Council on Measurement in Education
 
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Syllabus
  Fall 2006

Time:  Tuesday 4:15-6:15 PM
Room:  636T
Office Hours:  Monday 2 PM to 3 PM.

Contact Information:
Dr. Keith A. Markus
kmarkus@aol.com
212-237-8784
Room 2127N
Psychology Department, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 445 W 59th Street, New York, NY 10019 USA

Course Description:  The course offers a general introduction to psychometric methods primarily emphasizing classical tests theory, test construction and validation and test use.  The emphasis lies with developing a firm understanding of basic psychometric concepts.  This course lays a foundation for more advanced courses in specific topics introduced here.

Text Book:
    Crocker, L. & Algina, J. (1986). Introduction to classical and modern test theory.  New York:  Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

Additional Reading:
  American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association & National Council on Measurement in Education (1999).  Standards for educational and psychological testing.  Washington, DC:  AERA.

  I have ordered both books through the John Jay College book store.

Course Flow:  Familiarize yourself with the reading material before the corresponding lecture.  Lectures will summarize and clarify the reading.  In general, I would rather answer your questions than lecture.

Examinations:  The examinations will not be cumulative but later material will always presuppose a familiarity with prior material.  You are allowed one 8.5 x 11 inch hand-written page of notes and a calculator to be used during each examination.  Examinations will emphasize your ability to reason using psychometric principles studied in the course.  Although examinations will not emphasize computations, they will require some computation.  Exercises in the text book offer the best test preparation.

Homework:  Turn in homework assignments at the beginning of class.  Given that the homework comes due before the corresponding lecture (and the fact that you can look up the answers if you get stuck), I will grade more on completeness than accuracy.  The assignments primarily serve the purpose of allowing you to test your understanding of the reading before the lecture and thus better recognize where you have questions about the material.

Grading:  Each of the two examinations is worth 40% of your total grade.  That leaves 20% for the homework assignments.  Letter grades will be assigned as indicated below.
 
 

Letter Grade
Percent Grade
A
92-100
A-
84-91
B+
76-83
B
68-75
B-
60-67
C+
52-59
C
44-51
C-
36-43
F
0-35

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Schedule
Date
Reading Assignments Due
Homework Assignments Due
T 9/5
 Course Overview
  
T 9/12
 Crocker & Algina (CA) 1, 2, & 5
Statistical Review & Test Theory Basics
  Chapter 1 Exercises 1 & 2, Chapter 2 Exercises 6 & 7, Chapter 5 Exercise 3.
T 9/19
 CA 6, Standards (S) Introduction & 2
Reliability and Classical Test Theory
  Exercises 1 & 3.
T 9/26
 CA 7

The Estimation of Reliability
  Exercises 1 & 4.
T 10/3
 Class does not meet (Monday schedule)
T 10/10
 CA 10, S 1

Test Validation and Test Validity
  Exercises 5 & 7.
T 10/17
 CA 13

Factor Analysis
 Exercises 2.
T 10/24
 CA 4, S 3

Test Construction
 Exercises 3 & 5.
T 10/31
 CA 14

Item Analysis
  Exercises 2 & 3.
T 11/7

 Midterm Examination.

  
T 11/14
 CA 18

Setting Standards
 Exercises 1 & 2.
T 11/21
 CA 19, S 4

Norms and Standard Scores		 Exercises 5 & 6.
T 11/28
 CA 12, S 7

Bias in Selection
  Exercise 2.
T 12/5
 CA 15

Introduction to Item Response Theory
  Exercises 3 & 4.
T 12/12
 CA 16

Detecting Item Bias
  Exercises 1 & 4.
Th 12/19
Final Examination.

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Updated July 12, 2006