Approximating Psychometric Methods for Small Sample Sizes: Decision Accuracy as Grounded Theory and Discerning Triangulation

• In Event: 52.084 - Roundtable Session 20
  In Roundtable Session: 52.084-8 - The Use of Mixed-Methods Research in Different Disciplinary and Methodological Contexts

Abstract

This mixed methods study examines data from middle-school students’ interviews, psychological scale scores, and design journals to empirically bridge grounded theory with decision consistency from psychometrics. Psychological scale scores were used to categorize students into low, medium, and high with respect to (a) initial status and (b) growth on the scales. Interview data from students representative of each existing category were analyzed separately from the remaining interviews. We adapted the psychometric notion of decision consistency two ways, judging (1) the extent to which category-representative students compared with students in the same categories, but not chosen as “representatives,” and (2) the extent to which the triangulation of data sources all pointed in the same direction, which differed by student.

Author

• Amy R Semerjian, Boston College