TY - JOUR
T1 - On Standardized Measurement in Behavioral Science
AU - Nesselroade, John R.
AU - Molenaar, Peter C.M.
N1 - Funding Information:
This paper is based in part on an Anastasi Lecture given at Fordham University in 2013. We thank Jerry Clore, Hudson Golino, and Chris Hertzog for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this article. JRN is grateful for many years of support from the National Institute on Aging and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, Lundh Research Foundation. All rights reserved.
PY - 2022/12/11
Y1 - 2022/12/11
N2 - That standardized measurement procedures are a sine qua non of “good” science is generally not questioned. Here we examine the meaning and use of standardized measurement in behavioral science. Procedures and methods of measurement that have served the physical sciences so well should not blindly be assumed to work in the same manner and with the same effectiveness in behavioral science. There seems to be general agreement that social/behavioral science is “different” among the sciences. Problems arising from how behavioral science is “different” begin, we believe, with measurement. We put forward the argument that the source of the difference is unique to animate objects and is first evident at the stage of measuring the behavioral attributes of interest. It is at that point in conducting scientific inquiry that the matters raised might be resolved by developing and applying alternatives to standardized measurement. One such alternative discussed is the idiographic filter (Nesselroade, Gerstorf, Hardy, & Ram, 2007).
AB - That standardized measurement procedures are a sine qua non of “good” science is generally not questioned. Here we examine the meaning and use of standardized measurement in behavioral science. Procedures and methods of measurement that have served the physical sciences so well should not blindly be assumed to work in the same manner and with the same effectiveness in behavioral science. There seems to be general agreement that social/behavioral science is “different” among the sciences. Problems arising from how behavioral science is “different” begin, we believe, with measurement. We put forward the argument that the source of the difference is unique to animate objects and is first evident at the stage of measuring the behavioral attributes of interest. It is at that point in conducting scientific inquiry that the matters raised might be resolved by developing and applying alternatives to standardized measurement. One such alternative discussed is the idiographic filter (Nesselroade, Gerstorf, Hardy, & Ram, 2007).
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U2 - 10.17505/jpor.2022.24854
DO - 10.17505/jpor.2022.24854
M3 - Article
C2 - 36589926
AN - SCOPUS:85143760323
SN - 2002-0244
VL - 8
SP - 43
EP - 51
JO - Journal for Person-Oriented Research
JF - Journal for Person-Oriented Research
IS - 2
ER -