THE PURSUIT OF OBJECTIVITY IN PSYCHOLOGY Mattias Desmet
Critical of the current approaches to measurement in psychology Suggests a very innovative alternative to the mainstream conceptions Guaranteed Peer Reviewed Content (GPRC)
REGULIER
Engels | 135 × 200 mm Softcover | 112 pag. Verschenen in januari 2019 NUR 770 ISBN (regulier): 9789089319203 ISBN (student): 9789089318688 Prijs (regulier): € 23,00 Prijs (student): € 20,00
PSYCHOLOGIE
STUDENT
For about a decade, academic psychology finds itself in a crisis. Replication of the vast majority of research findings fails, the field is plagued by a bewildering methodological sloppiness and several cases of outright fraud have surfaced. This book argues that one of the major causes of the crisis in psychology is situated at the level of measurement methods. While myriads of research papers claim that the validity of the measurement instruments used is ‘acceptable’, ‘good’ or even ‘excellent’, every thorough analysis of validity and reliability of nomothetic measurement procedures leads up to profound skepticism. For a long time, the use of numbers gave psychology an aura of sophistication and exactness, but now it rather puts psychology at risk to become a pseudoscience. The author illustrates that a variety of factors not-intended- to-be-measured impacts on measurement outcome, which renders most types of statistical inference ineffective. He concludes that a reorientation towards single case research, a reappraisal of narrative and qualitative description, and a measurement paradigm centred on quantification of formal characteristics of language might attune psychological methods better to the complex and dynamic nature of its objects. Ultimately, such a reorientation might contribute to a true overcoming of the replicability crisis. ‘Laser-focused, razor-sharp, drum-tight and crystal-clear. The future of science shall be Desmetian!’ — dany nobus, Professor of Psychology, Brunei University London
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OWL PRESS — VOORJAAR 2021
