Expectations of High School Graduates from Public Schools - Essay Example

Expectations of High School Graduates from Inner Public Schools Introduction Pastorino and Doyle-Portillo (2011) define psychology as a scientific study of how a human brain functions to influence a person’s behavioral change. According to Mangal (2013), psychology is a vast field with numerous branches. Industrial and organizational psychologies are the examples of the branches of psychology. Organizational psychology involves the study of divergent and competing theories on how human beings behave in organizations such as schools, businesses, and institutions. Generally, psychologists carry out research on the attitudes and behaviors of subjects, and how they can be improved using training programs, management systems, hiring practices and feedback. This report is based on research work that involved the design of a testing instrument that was used in an organizational psychology project at a high school. The gathered data is then analyzed, and our findings and discussion compiled. The project report will include a test construct, test specifications and test items. It will also have statistical analysis of the dataset provided, including factor analysis, classical statistics, and reliability and validity measures. The report will describe the construction of our test; the results from our analysis of the provided data set; including validity, reliability, and factor analysis interpretation. Theoretical background Numerous studies and research have been conducted concerning industrial and organizational psychology. Industrial and organizational psychologists use a variety of methodology to conduct research (Aamodt, 2014). Common study designs deployed in this field of psychology include experiments, observational studies, surveys, and quasi-experiments. Researchers rely on varied data sources such as historical databases, questionnaires, human judgments, surveys, and objective measures of performance such as subscription volume. Industrial and organizational psychologists deploy both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. Quantitative methods employed in this field of psychology include descriptive and inferential statistics, for instance, analysis of variance, correlation and multiple regressions. Other advanced statistical techniques deployed in this field include multivariate analysis of variance, logistic regression, hierarchical linear modeling, and structural equation modeling. Hierarchical linear modeling is very applicable in research work involving team or organization level effects on a person. Researchers in this field also use psychometric methods for analysis. Techniques such as classical test theory, item response theory and generalizability theory are often deployed. Methodology Diverse methods were employed in researching, locating and identifying material for use in this report. Online library cataloging system was very effective in locating material. Panther Prowler, Google scholar, etc. were deployed to locate several scholarly works over the internet. Advanced scholar search found on Google Scholar was used for setting criteria for our search in order to appraise the material found online. We used basic Boolean search operators such as AND to locate a content. For example, we could key in psychology AND hierarchical linear modeling AND school on the advanced search on Google Scholar. The research involved an attitude survey that was used to gather information based on experiences, perceptions, facts and expectations of the subjects of high school graduates from public schools on the inner city. The research was a self-administered ranking scale survey that was used to assess satisfaction level in five constructs of the inner city public school educational experience. The survey consisted of five scores for each of the five constructs assessed. It had an overall general satisfaction score and an individual score sets on the five cognitive, five emotional, and five behavior assessments. The format is selected response using a Likert scale with five degrees of agree/disagree selections. These five scales are strongly approve, approve, neither approve nor disapprove, disapprove and strongly disapprove Findings Although industrial-organizational psychologists who operated within the prevailing business organization mainly focus on the existing organizations since they prefer to work for relatively bigger business organizations. Numerous prevailing psychological issues concerns underlying job responsibility that revolves within organizations. Big business organizations normally have set hierarchy and tend to focus more on the primary issues. Conversely, smaller and medium sized business organizations lacks set organizational channels thus making then not to focus on the vital issues. Within underlying scholarly field, individuals who work within the industrial organizational as psychologists are found within universities and colleges. Even though the field required specialists, scholars who deal with certain branch of psychology find themselves teaching undergraduates while they undertake their postgraduate courses. Moreover, industrial-organizational psychologists are capable of working as freelancers through offering their services online, which commonly occur later within their profession after gaining massive experiences and corresponding outsourcing by larger corporations. Discussion The level of accuracy in which a construct measures an element is normally defined by underlying construct validity. Conversely, Elmes, Kantowitz and Roediger (2011), define reliability as the consistency of the value of variables hence reliability affects the accuracy of measurements. This is the direct relationship between reliability and validity. Herbert (2003) points out that for a survey to be successful and valid, the study must rely on the channels adopted to address the methodological issues. A number of factors influence the perception and attitude survey data carried out among high school graduates; these factors include sequencing and paraphrasing, time and conduction of a pilot test to help edit irrelevant statements. Cork, Detmer and Friedman (1998), stress that the study of demand, knowledge, attitude and experiences of the study population should address the variables’ psychometric properties. To achieve this, there is need for considering the attributes of every high school graduate and the variables that are associated with them. Conclusion Survey is essential in methodology describes the three major purposes served by survey, which utilizes triangulation method to verify the experimental outcome, identification of fitting hypotheses solely for research study, and getting the relationship of at least two variables in a study. Survey has a number of advantages such as reduction of experimental bias and errors of instrumentation and the effective cost when collecting large sets of data. Moreover, when you use the survey, you are likely to consider the anonymity of the respondents, especially when dealing with highly sensitive topics. However, the use of perception or attitude survey also has its drawbacks; the data accessibility and reliability are limited. References Pastorino, E., & Doyle-Portillo, S. (2006). What is psychology?. Australia: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. Aamodt, M. G., & Aamodt, M. G. (2007). Industrial/organizational psychology: An applied approach. Belmont, CA: Thomson-Belmont Wadsworth. Mangal, S. K. (1988). General psychology. New Dehli: Sterling Publishers. Jamison, J. (2006). Research methods in psychology for high school students. Lincoln, NE: Jennie Brooks Jamison. Read More