Expert versus statistical scales in the diagnosis of adolescent psychopathology with the behavior assessment system for children Self-Report of Personality-adolescent /
This study compares two methods of constructing scales from a
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| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
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[Place of publication not identified] :
[publisher not identified] ;
1995.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=742164131&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=2945&RQT=309&VName=PQD |
| Summary: | This study compares two methods of constructing scales from a common item pool; one method based on clinical judgment and the other based on a strictly statistical approach. A convenience sample of fifteen licensed, clinical psychologists were asked to sort the items of the Self-Report of Personality for Adolescents (SRP-A) into discrete categories representing various forms of adolescent psychopathology. The clinicians were asked to "free sort" the items - meaning that no restrictions were placed on the number or kind of categories they could create. The method of Latent partition Analysis (LPA) was used to code the clinician's sortings into a joint proportion matrix. The joint proportion matrix was factor analyzed and the results of this analysis were used to develop a set of expert scales. The expert scales were evaluated on the basis of their ability to add new, non-redundant assessment information. The discriminant power of the statistical and expert scales was evaluated by comparing how previously formed clinical samples performed on the scales. Correlations were computed between the expert and statistical scales to determine scale overlap and whether the expert scales added non-redundant assessment information. The results of the comparison of the expert and statistical scales were both surprising and compelling. The clinical and statistical approach to scale construction produced nearly identical scales with nearly equal ability to discriminate between clinical groups. The results of this study suggest that clinical and statistical models of prediction may share more in common than was previously thought and that a union between the two methods might promote the construction of tests that are both clinically and statistically sound. |
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| Item Description: | Vita. "Major Subject: School Psychology". |
| Physical Description: | ix, 109 leaves ; 28 cm. Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilms Inc. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references. |