Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Reliability and Validity

Reliability and Validity

Reliability and validity are two important considerations that must be made with any type of data collection. Reliability refers to the ability to consistently produce a given result. In the context of psychological research, this would mean that any instruments or tools used to collect data do so in consistent, reproducible ways.

The Scientific Method

The Scientific Method

Research is what makes the difference between facts and opinions. Facts are observable realities, and opinions are personal judgments, conclusions, or attitudes that may or may not be accurate. In the scientific community, facts can be established only using evidence collected through empirical research.

Contemporary Psychology

Contemporary Psychology

Psychology explores human behavior and mental processes through various lenses, each offering unique insights. This overview examines key subfields, including biopsychology, evolutionary, developmental, personality, and social psychology, highlighting their approaches and contributions to understanding complex human behaviors.
Biopsychology
Biopsychology, also known as biological psychology or behavioral neuroscience, focuses on the biological underpinnings of behavior and mental processes. It...

Measures of Intelligence

Measures of Intelligence

Psychologists measure intelligence by using standardized tests that produce a score known as the intelligence quotient or IQ. To understand IQ tests, it's important to recognize the key principles behind their construction: validity, reliability, and standardization.
Validity refers to how well a test measures what it claims to measure. An intelligence test should accurately assess intelligence rather than another characteristic, like anxiety. Criterion validity is one way to evaluate this;...

Attribution Theory

Attribution Theory

Behavior is a product of both the situation (e.g., cultural influences, social roles, and the presence of bystanders) and of the person (e.g., personality characteristics). Subfields of psychology tend to focus on one influence or behavior over others. Situationism is the view that our behavior and actions are determined by our immediate environment and surroundings. In contrast, dispositionism holds that our behavior is determined by internal factors (Heider, 1958).

Self-Report Tests of Personality

Self-Report Tests of Personality

Self-report inventories are objective personality assessments that use multiple-choice items or numbered scales, typically ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). They are often called Likert scales after Rensis Likert. These inventories are widely used due to their ease of administration and cost-effectiveness. One of the most prominent examples is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), initially developed in the 1940s to assess abnormal personality traits.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same journal

Are patient-centered constructs measurable?

Studies in history and philosophy of science·2026

Same journal

Transferring ways of thinking and mathematizing: The statistical approach between physics and biology.

Studies in history and philosophy of science·2026

Same journal

The Dynamics of Quantum Gravity: The Missing Piece in the Spacetime Emergentist Account.

Studies in history and philosophy of science·2026

Same journal

A frame-based approach for reconstructing theories.

Studies in history and philosophy of science·2026

Same journal

Strategic ignorance, and the management of performative effects: Lessons from climate economics.

Studies in history and philosophy of science·2026

Same journal

Fictionalism and scientific realism: A response to ungrounded criticism.

Studies in history and philosophy of science·2026

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 12, 2025

Measuring Neural and Behavioral Activity During Ongoing Computerized Social Interactions: An Examination of Event-Related Brain Potentials

Measuring Neural and Behavioral Activity During Ongoing Computerized Social Interactions: An Examination of Event-Related Brain Potentials

Published on: November 15, 2014

Reactivity, validity, and measurement in the social sciences.

Rosa W Runhardt¹

¹Radboud University, Faculty of Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies, Erasmusplein 1, P.O. Box 9103, 6500 HD, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science

|June 10, 2025

Summary

Reactivity, where measurement influences behavior, can be natural. This study explores natural reactivity in macro-social measures like democracy indicators and university rankings.

Keywords:

Democracy indicators Measurement Metrics Public measures Rankings Reactivity Response shift

More Related Videos

Assessment of Social Interaction Behaviors

Assessment of Social Interaction Behaviors

Published on: February 25, 2011

Problem-Solving Before Instruction PS-I: A Protocol for Assessment and Intervention in Students with Different Abilities

Problem-Solving Before Instruction PS-I: A Protocol for Assessment and Intervention in Students with Different Abilities

Published on: September 11, 2021

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 12, 2025

Measuring Neural and Behavioral Activity During Ongoing Computerized Social Interactions: An Examination of Event-Related Brain Potentials

Measuring Neural and Behavioral Activity During Ongoing Computerized Social Interactions: An Examination of Event-Related Brain Potentials

Published on: November 15, 2014

Assessment of Social Interaction Behaviors

Assessment of Social Interaction Behaviors

Published on: February 25, 2011

Problem-Solving Before Instruction PS-I: A Protocol for Assessment and Intervention in Students with Different Abilities

Problem-Solving Before Instruction PS-I: A Protocol for Assessment and Intervention in Students with Different Abilities

Published on: September 11, 2021

Area of Science:

Social Sciences
Psychometrics
Philosophy of Science

Background:

Reactivity occurs when measurement influences subject behavior and subsequent results.
Response shift is a key concept in psychometrics concerning changes in measurement over time.
The naturalness of reactivity, where pre- and post-shift measures are both accurate, is debated.

Purpose of the Study:

To provide conceptual clarification for the study of reactivity in macro-social phenomena.
To map psychometric concepts of response shift to the measurement of macro-social entities.
To distinguish and extrapolate existing arguments on the naturalness of reactivity in psychometrics.

Main Methods:

Conceptual analysis and mapping of psychometric concepts to macro-social measurement.
Distinguishing between 'the argument from regularity' and 'the argument from strong evaluation' regarding reactivity.
Applying these arguments to case studies of democracy indicators and university rankings.

Main Results:

The study clarifies how concepts of natural reactivity can be applied to macro-social entities.
It identifies requirements for extrapolating psychometric arguments on reactivity to macro-social measurement.
The analysis highlights the relevance of causal regularities and respondent evaluations in understanding natural reactivity.

Conclusions:

Reactivity in macro-social measurement, particularly in areas like democracy and university rankings, can be conceptually understood using psychometric frameworks.
The naturalness of reactivity in these contexts depends on specific causal regularities and the role of normative evaluations.
This work provides a foundation for further research into the nuances of measurement effects in social science.