Psychometrics in Behavioral Software Engineering: A Methodological Introduction with Guidelines

A meaningful and deep understanding of the human aspects of software engineering (SE) requires psychological constructs to be considered. Psychology theory can facilitate the systematic and sound development as well as the adoption of instruments (e.g., psychological tests, questionnaires) to assess these constructs. In particular, to ensure high quality, the psychometric properties of instruments need evaluation. In this article, we provide an introduction to psychometric theory for the evaluation of measurement instruments for SE researchers. We present guidelines that enable using existing instruments and developing new ones adequately. We conducted a comprehensive review of the psychology literature framed by the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing. We detail activities used when operationalizing new psychological constructs, such as item pooling, item review, pilot testing, item analysis, factor analysis, statistical property of items, reliability, validity, and fairness in testing and test bias. We provide an openly available example of a psychometric evaluation based on our guideline. We hope to encourage a culture change in SE research towards the adoption of established methods from psychology. To improve the quality of behavioral research in SE, studies focusing on introducing, validating, and then using psychometric instruments need to be more common.

Social Support, Self-efficacy, Self-esteem, and Well-being During COVID-19 Lockdown: A Two-wave Study of Danish Students

Societal lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed everyday life across the globe, including requirements of social distancing which might limit the social support people derive from social interaction. Social support has proven to be a vital resource for well-being and coping during societal challenges. The present study examines how social support is associated with perceived stress and life satisfaction through self-efficacy and self-esteem among Danish students (N = 204). These psychological constructs were examined both during and after lockdown, assessing the possible aversive psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results did not yield any significant changes in either the mean scores of the constructs or the indirect effects model across the two timepoints. Moreover, the results indicate that social support derived from a significant person, family, and friends—but not student peers—is negatively linked with perceived stress and positively associated with life satisfaction through both self-efficacy and self-esteem. Although societal lockdown did not yield significant psychological impact, the results highlight the importance of social support among students, both during and after lockdown.

Applying Evidence-Centered Design to Measure Psychological Resilience: The Development and Preliminary Validation of a Novel Simulation-Based Assessment Methodology

Modern technologies have enabled the development of dynamic game- and simulation-based assessments to measure psychological constructs. This has highlighted their potential for supplementing other assessment modalities, such as self-report. This study describes the development, design, and preliminary validation of a simulation-based assessment methodology to measure psychological resilience—an important construct for multiple life domains. The design was guided by theories of resilience, and principles of evidence-centered design and stealth assessment. The system analyzed log files from a simulated task to derive individual trajectories in response to stressors. Using slope analyses, these trajectories were indicative of four types of responses to stressors: thriving, recovery, surviving, and succumbing. Using Machine Learning, the trajectories were predictive of self-reported resilience (Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale) with high accuracy, supporting construct validity of the simulation-based assessment. These findings add to the growing evidence supporting the utility of gamified assessment of psychological constructs. Importantly, these findings address theoretical debates about the construct of resilience, adding to its theory, supporting the combination of the “trait” and “process” approaches to its operationalization.

The role of positive psychological constructs in diet and eating behavior among people with metabolic syndrome: A qualitative study

Positive Psychological (PP) constructs (e.g., optimism and gratitude) may impact the adherence to healthy behaviors, including diet, though prior studies have shown mixed findings. This qualitative study explored the relationships between PP constructs and dietary behaviors among 21 adults with metabolic syndrome through semi-structured interviews. Directed content analysis led to five themes: eating healthfully leads to PP constructs, PP constructs lead to eating healthfully, eating healthfully prevents negative emotions, healthy behaviors associated with diet, and an upward healthy spiral. Given the close relationship between PP constructs and diet, these may be targeted to improve diet in risk populations through interventions that promote well-being.

Cognitive Behavioral Perspective on the Conceptualization and Treatment of Cyberchondria

Currently, the use of the internet has become an impenetrable part of everyday life, and the use of the internet for the purpose of obtaining medical information has also become widespread. Although the psychological mechanisms underlying cyberchondria are not clear enough, studies emphasize that some psychological constructs are risk factors in the development of cyberchondria. There is no standard treatment for cyberchondria; it is important to determine case-specific formulations and treatment targets in treatment. Psychoeducation and also different therapy techniques can be used for the treatment of cyberchondria occurring in different contexts in the cognitive-behavioural approach. Cyberchondria, due to developing technology and the increasing space that the internet occupies in our lives, is likely to be more talked about and studied in the coming years. In this review, cyberchondria will be evaluated from a cognitive behavioral perspective, and the methods used in its treatment will be briefly mentioned.

Measuring citizens’ engagement during emergencies: Psychometric validation of the Public Health Engagement Scale for Emergency Settings (PHEs-E)

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of citizens’ behaviors in the containment of the virus. Individuals might change their intention to adhere to public health prescriptions depending on various personal characteristics, including their own emotional status, which has been recognized to be a crucial psychological factor in orienting people’s adherence to public health recommendation during emergency settings. In particular, it is crucial to support citizens’ alliance with authorities and feeling of trust: public engagement is a concept that refers to the general involvement of citizens into public affairs which is generally considered an effective approach to enhance citizens’ understanding of their crucial role in public affairs. However, so far there is no agreement on the metrics and indexes that should be used to measures public engagement during a health crisis. The aim of this paper is to validate a psychometric scale (PHEs-E), which intends to measure the readiness of individuals to adhere to the prescribed behavioral change to contain the emergency. Data were collected throughout the pandemic in Italy: in particular, five independent samples were recruited starting from March 2020 to March 2021. Results showed that the proposed measure has good psychometric characteristics. A general linear model was computed to assess the differences of public engagement across the different data points and among citizens with different sociodemographic characteristics. Correlations with other psychological constructs (i.e. Anxiety, Depression and Self-Efficacy) were also tested, showing that more engaged citizens have a lower level of anxiety and depression, and a higher self-efficacy. This study’s findings indicate that individuals’ characteristics may differentiate citizens’ motivation to engage in public health behavioral recommendation to prevent the COVID-19 contagion. However the scale could be useful to perform a psychological monitoring of psychological readiness to engage in public health strategies to face critical events and settings.

The Role of EFL Teachers’ Praise and Love in Preventing Students’ Hopelessness

The emotional dimension of language teaching and learning has recently gained momentum among researchers after pioneering works in positive psychology. Now, teachers’ and students’ emotions play an important role in learning process. Despite the growing body of research on many psychological constructs in L2 education, the role of teacher praise and love in precluding students’ sense of hopelessness about their future and efforts has been largely ignored. Addressing such problems, the present study aimed to examine the definitions, conceptualizations, influencing factors, causes, and outcomes of these three psychological variables in EFL contexts. Moreover, to position the study, this article took a quick glance at the affective trend in education referring to positive outcomes of a loving pedagogy. Finally, different practical implications, research gaps, and future lines of research were provided for passionate researchers.

Relationships between satisfaction with life, posttraumatic growth, coping strategies, and resilience in cancer survivors: A network analysis approach

Objective: Cancer survivors’ satisfaction with life should be seen through the psychological factors related to a person’s capabilities to face and handle the situation. This study aimed to (1) examine the relationships of satisfaction with life, posttraumatic growth, resilience and coping strategies in a global network model, (2) find the bridge indicators between satisfaction with life and the other constructs, and (3) test for the invariance of the network structures across several moderating variables.Methods: In a heterogeneous sample of 696 cancer survivors (69% female; mean age = 53.1 ± 15.44 years; median time from being diagnosed = 4 years; breast cancer was the most frequent type of cancer) their satisfaction with life, resilience, coping strategies and posttraumatic growth was measured. In order to account for their complexity, the relationships between the constructs were explored using a network analysis approach. Results: The network analysis shows that satisfaction with life is strongly connected to resilience, moderately connected to coping strategies, and has a weak connection with posttraumatic growth. In the separate networks, the relationships between the psychological constructs were examined in greater detail. Besides some exceptions observed in the invalidity percentage, the networks were invariant across gender, age, years since being diagnosed, cancer type and treatment type.Conclusion: The findings suggest that interventions focused on survivors’ coping strategies and resilience could help increase their satisfaction with life. However, further replication of the proposed network analysis is needed.

Systematic Review of Psychological Aging Research in Nepal

Nepal faces unprecedented levels of aging similar to trends in many less well-resourced countries. It has limited capacity to address the medical, social and psychological needs of older persons. Difficult choices regarding allocation of resources will be needed. In this review, we hope to clarify what is already known in aging research in Nepal. The databases APA PsychINFO and PubMed were searched. The inclusion criteria were peer-reviewed articles on i) psychological constructs and mental illnesses, ii) use of original data, iii) inclusion of senior participants and iv) studies conducted in Nepal. Studies that included mixed age group and cross-country comparisons were excluded from this review. The initial search resulted in 76 articles from APA PsychINFO and 590 articles from PubMed. Articles were reviewed independently for inclusion and exclusion criteria. A total of 49 articles were included in the final list. Preliminary results showed that the largest share of articles focused on depression (32.1%), followed by quality of life/life satisfaction or loneliness(18.9%). A large number of studies also examined prevalence rates of psychiatric and neurocognitive disorders (22.6%). Common conditions, like dementia and delirium were studied only in 1.9% and 3.8% of published studies respectively. All of the studies were cohort-based and none focused on evaluations of psychosocial/medical interventions. Robust intervention studies are needed to help improve the lives of seniors in Nepal. To our knowledge this is the first comprehensive review of published articles on psychological construct in aging populations in Nepal.