Values in Psychometrics.
Publication Date
2022-05Journal Title
Perspect Psychol Sci
ISSN
1745-6916
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Volume
17
Issue
3
Pages
788-804
Language
en
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Wijsen, L. D., Borsboom, D., & Alexandrova, A. (2022). Values in Psychometrics.. Perspect Psychol Sci, 17 (3), 788-804. https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916211014183
Abstract
When it originated in the late 19th century, psychometrics was a field with both a scientific and a social mission: Psychometrics provided new methods for research into individual differences and at the same time considered these methods a means of creating a new social order. In contrast, contemporary psychometrics-because of its highly technical nature and its limited involvement in substantive psychological research-has created the impression of being a value-free discipline. In this article, we develop a contrasting characterization of contemporary psychometrics as a value-laden discipline. We expose four such values: that individual differences are quantitative (rather than qualitative), that measurement should be objective in a specific sense, that test items should be fair, and that the utility of a model is more important than its truth. Our goal is not to criticize psychometrics for supporting these values but rather to bring them into the open and to show that they are not inevitable and are in need of systematic evaluation.
Keywords
values, psychometrics, value-free ideal, objectivity, quantification, validity, fair test, utility
Identifiers
10.1177_17456916211014183
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916211014183
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/336885
Rights
Licence:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Statistics
Total file downloads (since January 2020). For more information on metrics see the
IRUS guide.