Survey research and design in psychology/Tutorials/Psychometrics/Instructor notes

Instructor notes

Overview

This tutorial is designed as a 110 minute, facilitated, computer lab session. In such a session, the following can be achieved:

Factor analysis (70 mins)

1. Steps: Overview key points about the steps involved in factor analysis.
2. Exercise 1: Demonstrate and guide students step-by-step through Exercise 1, including:
   1. The SPSS EFA dialog box options and main choices to be made.
   2. Explain each of the key output tables and how they can be interpreted.
      1. Learning to interpret SPSS EFA output is a bit like learning how to drive; when you start driving with a L plate you feel overwhelmed by all the information coming in, but then as you become more expert, you learn what to pay attention to and what can be ignored.
   3. This is a very simple EFA, with a small number of variables and factors and a simple structure, so its excellent for b beginners
3. Exercise 2: Guide students step-by-step through Exercise 2 - as per Exercise 1. This is a more advanced exercise because it involves comparing a two and a three factor solution, then removing two items, and re-running.
4. Exercise 3: Introduce and explain the data set (11 items about Managerial Style/Skills - what is the underlying factor structure?), then ask participants to then conduct an EFA (PAF, Oblimin) on their own, to help reinforce what has been taught in the first two exercises. Allow 5-10 min to complete on their own, then demonstrate and go through the analysis on the board.

Internal reliability (10 mins)

1. Exercise 1: Guide students step-by-step through Exercise 1.
2. Exercises 2 and 3 can be completed on their own, outside of class time if further practice is desired.

Composite scores (10 mins)

1. Exercise 1: Guide participants through creating a composite score for Openness (which also involves recoding responses to the negatively worded items) and obtaining descriptive statistics and a histogram
2. Exercises 2 and 3 (creating composite scores for Student Satisfaction and Maths and English Teaching) can be completed on their own, outside of class time if further practice is desired.

Lab report 3 (5-10 mins)

• Discuss the requirements for Lab report 3 and allow Q&A
• If the tutor if unsure about the answers, encourage the students to ask on the Moodle discussion forums