Industrial and Organizational Psychology - Essay Example

This report is based on research that involved the design of a testing instrument used in an organizational psychology project at a high school. The gathered data is then analyzed, and our findings and discussion are compiled. The project report will include a test construct, specifications, and items. It will also provide a statistical dataset analysis, including factor analysis, classical statistics, and reliability and validity measures. The report will describe the construction of our test; the results from our study of the provided data set, including validity, reliability, and factor analysis interpretation.

Numerous studies and research work have been conducted regarding industrial and organizational psychology. Industrial and Organization psychology traces its roots nearly at the beginning of the science of psychology. In 1876, Wilhelm Wundt founded a laboratory in Leipzig, Germany, one of the world's first psychological laboratories. Wundt would eventually train two psychologists who had a considerable influence on the emergence of industrial and organizational psychology. Industrial and organizational psychologists use a variety of methodologies to conduct research.

Standard 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 performance measures such as subscription volume. Industrial and organizational psychologists deploy both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. Quantitative methods employed in this psychology field include descriptive and inferential statistics such as analysis of variance, correlation and multiple regressions. Other advanced statistical techniques in this field include multivariate analysis of variance, logistic regression, hierarchical linear modelling, and structural equation modelling. Hierarchical linear modelling is very applicable in research involving a 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.

We used basic Boolean search operators such as AND to locate content. For example, we could key in psychology AND hierarchical linear modelling 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 in the inner city. The research was a self-administered ranking scale survey used to assess satisfaction levels 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 one overall general satisfaction score and individual score sets on the five cognitive, five emotional, and five behaviour assessments. The format is selected response using a Likert scale with five degrees of agreeing/disagree selections. Strongly agree (1), Agree (2), neither agree nor disagree (3), disagree (4), strongly disagree (5).