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Article 1: Beckenbach, J., Schmidt, E., & Reardon, R. (2009). The interpersonal relationship resolution scale: A reliability and validity scale. The Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families, 17(4), 335-341.

Summary: The authors report the results of a study assessing the reliability and validity of the Interpersonal Relationship Resolution Scale (IRRS), which assesses individual perceptions of violations in a relationship that resulted in interpersonal injury and their willingness to forgive such violations. The authors report on a study used to assess various forms of reliability and validity of the scale.

Learning Objective: Qualities of Measures: Reliability and Validity

Questions to Consider

1. Define reliability and validity in your own words?
2. What types of reliability did the authors test for the IRRS? What were their results for these forms of reliability?
3. What types of validity did the authors test for the IRRS? What were the results for these types of validity?
    

Article 2: Rafilson, F., & Sison, R. (1996). Seven criterion-related validity studies conducted with the National Police Officer Selection Test (POST). Psychological Reports, 78, 163-176.

Summary: The authors report on seven studies conducted to test the criterion-related validity of the National Police Officer Selection Test (POST), which is a standardized screening test used in the selection of potential police officers. The authors correlated scores from the POST to a variety of scores obtained during police officer training and work performance.

Learning Objectives: Validity: Content, Face, Criterion-Related, Content.

Questions to Consider

1. In your own words, what is criterion-related validity? Why is it an important form of validity to test for the POST?
2. What are the measures that the POST is correlated with to test criterion-related validity? What are the results of these tests?
3. What would be a criticism of criterion-related validity for the POST? (HINT: The only police officers that can have their training or work performance measured are those that made it through the POST screening).
    

Article 3: Holtgraves, T. (2004). Social desirability and self-reports: Testing models of social desirable responding. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 161-172.

Summary: The author reports the results of three studies designed to examine the process and conditions under which people identify self-reporting measures in a socially desirable way. In the three studies, the author manipulated the degree to which a participant may respond in a socially desirable way. The results found that response times increase when a participant is responding in a more socially desirable way. The results suggest that socially desirable responses are edited responses to a trait or behavior.

Learning Objective: Social Desirability Concerns

Questions to Consider

1. Define social desirability in your own words. Why is social desirability a concern in survey research?
2. Briefly describe how the author manipulated social desirability conditions in each of the three studies.
3. How did the author define social desirable responses? What was the interpretation for this finding?