Quantitative psychology
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Quantitative psychology is a field of scientific study that focuses on the
Psychologists have long contributed to statistical and mathematical analysis, and quantitative psychology is now a specialty recognized by the American Psychological Association. Doctoral degrees are awarded in this field in a number of universities in Europe and North America, and quantitative psychologists have been in high demand in industry, government, and academia. Their training in both social science and quantitative methodology provides a unique skill set for solving both applied and theoretical problems in a variety of areas.
History
Quantitative psychology has its roots in early experimental psychology when, in the nineteenth century, the scientific method was first systematically applied to psychological phenomena. Notable contributions included E. H. Weber's studies of tactile sensitivity (1830s), Fechner's development and use of the psychophysical methods (1850–1860), and Helmholtz's research on vision and audition beginning after 1850. Wilhelm Wundt is often called the "founder of experimental psychology", because he called himself a psychologist and opened a psychological laboratory in 1879 where many researchers came to study.[2] The work of these and many others helped put to rest the assertion, by theorists such as Immanuel Kant, that psychology could not become a science because precise experiments on the human mind were impossible.
Intelligence testing
Statistical techniques
Statistical methods are the quantitative tools most used by psychologists. Pearson introduced the correlation coefficient and the chi-squared test. The 1900–1920 period saw the t-test (Student, 1908), the ANOVA (Fisher, 1925) and a non-parametric correlation coefficient (Spearman, 1904). A large number of tests were developed in the latter half of the 20th century (e.g., all the multivariate tests). Popular techniques (such as Hierarchical Linear Model, Arnold, 1992, Structural Equation Modeling, Byrne, 1996 and Independent Component Analysis, Hyvarinën, Karhunen and Oja, 2001) are relatively recent.[5]
In 1946, psychologist
In 1990, an influential paper titled "Graduate Training in Statistics, Methodology, and Measurement in Psychology" was published in the American Psychologist journal. This article discussed the need for increased and up-to-date training in quantitative methods for psychology graduate programs in the United States.[8]
Education and training
Undergraduate
Training for quantitative psychology can begin informally at the undergraduate level. Many graduate schools recommend that students have some coursework in psychology and complete the full college sequence of
Graduate
Quantitative psychologists may possess a doctoral degree or a master's degree. Due to its interdisciplinary nature and depending on the research focus of the university, these programs may be housed in a school's
Universities with a mathematical focus include McGill University's "Quantitative Psychology and Modeling" program and Purdue University's "Mathematical and Computational Psychology" degrees.[11][12] Students with an interest in modeling biological or functional data may go into related fields such as biostatistics or computational neuroscience.
Doctoral programs typically accept students with only bachelor's degrees, although some schools may require a master's degree before applying. After the first two years of studies, graduate students typically earn a
Companies that produce
Shortage of qualified applicants
This article needs to be updated.(May 2022) |
In August 2005, the American Psychological Association expressed the need for more quantitative psychologists in the industry—for every PhD awarded in the subject, there were about 2.5 quantitative psychologist position openings.[15] Due to a lack of applicants in the field, the APA created a Task Force to study the state of quantitative psychology and predict its future. Domestic U.S. applicants are especially lacking. The majority of international applicants come from Asian countries, especially South Korea and China.[16] In response to the lack of qualified applicants, the APA Council of Representatives authorized a special task force in 2006.[17] The task force was chaired by Leona S. Aiken from Arizona State University.
Research areas
Quantitative psychologists generally have a main area of interest.
Two common types of psychometric tests are aptitude tests, which are supposed to measure raw intellectual suitability for a purpose, and personality tests, which aim to assess character, temperament, and how the subject deals with problems.
Item response theory is based on the application of related
Professional organizations
Quantitative psychology is served by several scientific organizations. These include the Psychometric Society, Division 5 of the American Psychological Association (Evaluation, Measurement and Statistics), the Society of Multivariate Experimental Psychology, and the European Society for Methodology. Associated disciplines include statistics, mathematics, educational measurement, educational statistics, sociology, and political science. Several scholarly journals reflect the efforts of scientists in these areas, notably Psychometrika, Psychological Methods, Multivariate Behavioral Research, Journal of Mathematical Psychology, and Structural Equation Modeling.
Notable people
The following is a select list of quantitative psychologists or people who have contributed to the field:
See also
- List of schools for quantitative psychology
- Mathematical psychology
- Measuring the Mind
- Network neuroscience
- Psychophysics
- Psychometrics
- Psychometrika
- Quantitative psychological research
- WinBUGS
References
- ^ "Classification of Instructional Programs – Psychometrics and Quantitative Psychology". The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
- ^ E. Hearst (ed) The First Century of Experimental Psychology, 1979, pp. 19–20, Hillsdale, NJ: Earlbaum
- ^ Bulmer, M. (1999). The development of Francis Galton's ideas on the mechanism of heredity. Journal of the History of Biology, 32(3), 263–292. Cowan, R. S. (1972). Francis Galton's contribution to genetics. Journal of the History of Biology, 5(2), 389–412. See also Burbridge, D. (2001). Francis Galton on twins, heredity and social class. British Journal for the History of Science, 34(3), 323–340.
- ^ Fancher, R. E. (1983). Biographical origins of Francis Galton's psychology. Isis, 74(2), 227–233.
- .
- PMID 17750512. Archived from the original(PDF) on September 6, 2012. Retrieved September 16, 2010.
- ^ Cohen's entry in Encyclopedia of Statistics in Behavioral Science
- doi:10.1037/0003-066x.45.6.721. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2015-01-19. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
- ^ "Undergraduate Minor in Social and Behavioral Sciences Methodology". University of Kansas. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
- ^ "Quantitative Methods at Vanderbilt University". Vanderbilt University, Psychological Sciences. Retrieved 2022-05-05.
- ^ "Quantitative Psychology & Modelling". McGill University, Department of Psychology. Retrieved 2022-05-05.
- ^ "Mathematical and Computational Psychology". Purdue University, Psychological Sciences. 11 November 2021. Retrieved 2022-05-05.
- ^ "Quantitative/Psychometric Methods at University of Minnesota". University of Minnesota, College of Liberal Arts. Retrieved 2022-05-05.
- ^ "Quantitative Minor at New York University". New York University, Arts & Science. Retrieved 2022-05-05.
- ^ Report of the Task Force for Increasing the Number of Quantitative Psychologists, page 1. American Psychological Association. Retrieved February 15, 2012
- ^ "Report of the Task Force for Increasing the Number of Quantitative Psychologists" (PDF). American Psychological Association. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
- ^ "Quantitative Psychology". American Psychological Association. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
- ISBN 978-1-4614-3993-6.
Further reading
- "Report of the Task Force for Increasing the Number of Quantitative Psychologists" (PDF). American Psychological Association. Retrieved 13 December 2014.