Quantitative science and the definition of measurement in psychology

By Joel Michell. 1997

Subfields: Statistics and Probability, Cognitive Science & Psychology

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Citations in the corpus

Measuring Data (2022, background): “Precise deﬁnitions of measurement paved the way for Measurement Theory, which examines the quantitative structure that abstract concepts, such as comprehension or (problematically) intelligence (Harrington, 1975), may take (Michell, 1997; Hox and Boeije, 2005).”
Rethinking Traditional Methods of Survey Validation (2017, background): “Nonetheless, the influence of operationalism on thinking about measurement remains pervasive (see, e.g., Maul, Torres Irribarra, & Wilson, 2016; McGrane, 2015; Michell, 1997), and “operational definitions” of attributes in terms of specific instruments remain ubiquitous.”
Measuring Growth With Vertical Scales (2013, background): “In doing so, one quickly encounters a critique of modern psychometrics in the form of a series of publications over the past decade by Michell (1997, 2000, 2004, 2008a, 2008b).”
Fearing the Future of Empirical Psychology: Bem's (2011) Evidence of Psi as a Case Study of Deficiencies in Modal Research Practice (2011, background): “This difficulty reflects the more general problem of construct validity in psychology, which arises because the context sensitivity of psychological processes makes it very difficult to know when a manipulation or measurement is valid (Borsboom et al., 2004; Michell, 1997; Peters, 2011).”
Normal Science, Pathological Science and Psychometrics (2000, background): “When they define measurement there is strong uniformity, but the definitions given do not even slightly resemble the traditional concept (Michell, 1997a).”
Measurement Theory, Psychology and the Revolution That Cannot Happen (2009, methodology): “Furthermore, as Michell (1997) points out, the classical concept is closer to measurement as it is defined in the physical sciences, namely as ‘the estimation or discovery of the ratio of some magnitude of a quantitative attribute to a unit of the same attribute’ (p. 358).”
Generation of an Interval Metric Scale to Measure Attitude (2014, methodology): “…argument, Markus and Borsboom (2011) argued that measurement in psychology cannot be assumed equivalent to measurement in the natural sciences such as physics and as such, currently existing tests cannot be considered as measurements stoutly anticipated by Trendler (2009) and Michell (1997, 1999).”
Scaffolding within the structure of Dialogical Self: Hierarchical dynamics of semiotic mediation (2005, background): “ARTICLE IN PRESS J. Valsiner / New Ideas in Psychology 23 (2005) 197–206198 of dynamic underlying processes as if some ontological state were to be ‘‘measurable’’ (see Michell, 1997, 1999) The very acceptance of the notion of ‘‘true score’’ indicates that axiomatic slicing of reality.”
Rasch analysis: A primer for school psychology researchers and practitioners (2017, background): “Page 1 of 13 Page 2 of 13 misunderstanding of points made by Stevens (1951) about measurement (see Michell, 1997, 2002 for additional consideration of this issue).”
Putting Typologies to Work (2012, background): “On the wide influence of this framework, see Michell (1997, 360).”
Stevens’ forgotten crossroads: the divergent measurement traditions in the physical and psychological sciences from the mid-twentieth century (2015, background): “Whilst such research was underpinned by questionable dualist assumptions and the dubious separation between JND " units " and their physical counterparts (see McGregor, 1935; Michell, 1997), it appears that the tradition shared commonalities with the systematic approach.”
Item response theory and clinical measurement. (2009, background): “…and to situate our discussion into a broader context, we review three milestones in the history of psychological measurement that have framed contemporary debates on the meaning of test scores (Blanton & Jaccard 2006; Borsboom 2006; Borsboom & Mellenbergh 2004; Embretson 1994; Michell 1997, 2004).”
Latent Variable Theory (2008, methodology): “However, this technique is rarely used in psychology (Michell, 1997, 1999).”
Educational Measurement (4th ed.) (2009, methodology): “WHAT IS NOT IN THE BOOK Michell (1997, 2000, 2008) has criticized social scientists for relying on inadequate definitions of measurement, most notably that of Stevens (1946) as the assignment of numerals according to rule; in a literature search, he found that 39 out of 44 books that were concerned ”
Is Psychometrics Pathological Science? (2008, methodology): “Later, I used the expression methodological thought disorder (Michell, 1997) to characterize psychologists’ attitude to measurement and, though that expression is apt, the problem is not exclusively methodological.”