What is it about?
The widespread beliefs that psychometrics could enable science-based quantifications of the human mind are shown to be based on ambiguous meanings of key terms used in psychology that, moreover, are often confused with one another. Many psychologists also build on erroneous assumptions about what constitutes measurement in the physical sciences and therefore draw erroneous conclusions about how it could be implemented in psychological research about the human mind.
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Why is it important?
The analyses show that psychometrics does not establish systematic relations to individuals’ minds as needed for measurement and that, consequently, psychometric results should not be used to make decisions about persons.
Perspectives
This provocative article is aimed at stimulating much needed debate and discussion about established research practices in psychology and the widespread but erroneous beliefs that psychometrics could be similar to measurement.
Dr Jana Uher
University of Greenwich
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Psychometrics is not measurement: Unraveling a fundamental misconception in quantitative psychology and the complex network of its underlying fallacies., Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, October 2020, American Psychological Association (APA), DOI: 10.1037/teo0000176.
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Author Homepage
Jana Uher has developed a novel transdisciplinary and philosophy-of-science paradigm focused on individuals, their personality, behaviours and social relationships.
Transdisciplinary Philosophy-of-Science Paradigm for Research on Individuals
The TPS-Paradigm provides philosophical, metatheoretical and methodological frameworks to explore the complexity of individuals and their lives from transdisciplinary viewpoints.
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