Measurement in Psychology

A Critical History of a Methodological Concept
Erscheinungsjahr 2003
ISBN: 978-0-521-62120-5
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, Band 53, 266 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 590 g

Reihe: Ideas in Context

This book traces how such a seemingly immutable idea as measurement proved so malleable when it collided with the subject matter of psychology. It locates philosophical and social influences (such as scientism, practicalism and Pythagoreanism) reshaping the concept and, at the core of this reshaping, identifies a fundamental problem: the issue of whether psychological attributes really are quantitative. It argues that the idea of measurement now endorsed within psychology actually subverts attempts to establish a genuinely quantitative science and it urges a new direction. It relates views on measurement by thinkers such as Holder, Russell, Campbell and Nagel to earlier views, like those of Euclid and Oresme. Within the history of psychology, it considers contributions by Fechner, Cattell, Thorndike, Stevens and Suppes, among others. It also contains a non-technical exposition of conjoint measurement theory and recent foundational work by leading measurement theorist R. Duncan Luce.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Michell, Joel

Skinner, Quentin

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Psychologie / Allgemeines & Theorie Psychologische Theorie, Psychoanalyse
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Forschung und Information Datenanalyse, Datenverarbeitung
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein Empirische Sozialforschung, Statistik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Trusting number, forsaking measure; 2. The mental measurement nexus; 3. The logic of quantification; 4. Safety in numbers; 5. Break-out from the classical paradigm; 6. Beyond measure; 7. Made to measure; 8. The revolution 'that never happened'.