Piaget and Measurement

Can a Piaget theory of discontinuities in development be investigated using Rasch's theory of a continuous measurement scale? Indeed it can! And in a series of three papers in Archives de Psychologie (1995), Trevor Bond demonstrates the value of a Rasch approach.

If Piaget's stages of development, advancing from concrete to abstract thinking,could only be observed as a series of distinct leaps, then they would produce Guttman response patterns in response data. We would know there were leaps in mental functioning, but we would not know how big they were. Unless they can be placed on a continuous measurement scale, it is impossible to discover how big are the leaps, which leaps are biggest, and how large they are compared with development between the leaps.

In fact, Bond's study shows that the responses do not form a perfect Guttman pattern, but they do show strong ordering. "The overwhelming degree of concurrence of stage allocations derived on the one hand from Piaget's idiosyncratic logical analyses and on the other by rigorous statistical analysis provides an unprecedented validation of this aspect of the Piagetian oeuvre." (Bond p.242)

The plot shows, on the right side, the Piagetian items validated by the measurement system -- observe the advance up from IIB to IIIA to IIIB (indicated to the extreme right). On the left side are the items which challenge Piaget's theory. Observe that the top IIIA is well into the IIIB's, suggesting there is no discontinuity. These items require either refinements to Piagetian theory or revisions to the item classification rules. Simply put, good measurement provokes better theory!

Trevor G. Bond is at the School of Education, James Cook University of North Queensland, Townsville QLD 4811, Australia.
e-mail: trevor.bond@jcu.edu.au

Bond T.G. (1996) Piaget and Measurement I: The twain really do meet. Archives de Psychologie 63, 71-87.

Bond T.G. (1996) Piaget and Measurement II: Empirical validation of the Piagetian model. Archives de Psychologie 63, 155-185.

Bond T.G. (1996) Piaget and Measurement III: Reassessing the Méthode Clinique. Archives de Psychologie 63, 231-255.

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Bond T.G. (1996) Piaget and Measurement. Rasch Measurement Transactions 10:2

Piaget and Measurement. Bond T.G. … Rasch Measurement Transactions, 1996, 10:2 p. 491

Rasch Books and Publications
Invariant Measurement: Using Rasch Models in the Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences, 2nd Edn. George Engelhard, Jr. & Jue Wang	Applying the Rasch Model (Winsteps, Facets) 4th Ed., Bond, Yan, Heene	Advances in Rasch Analyses in the Human Sciences (Winsteps, Facets) 1st Ed., Boone, Staver	Advances in Applications of Rasch Measurement in Science Education, X. Liu & W. J. Boone	Rasch Analysis in the Human Sciences (Winsteps) Boone, Staver, Yale
Introduction to Many-Facet Rasch Measurement (Facets), Thomas Eckes	Statistical Analyses for Language Testers (Facets), Rita Green	Invariant Measurement with Raters and Rating Scales: Rasch Models for Rater-Mediated Assessments (Facets), George Engelhard, Jr. & Stefanie Wind	Aplicação do Modelo de Rasch (Português), de Bond, Trevor G., Fox, Christine M	Appliquer le modèle de Rasch: Défis et pistes de solution (Winsteps) E. Dionne, S. Béland
Exploring Rating Scale Functioning for Survey Research (R, Facets), Stefanie Wind	Rasch Measurement: Applications, Khine	Winsteps Tutorials - free Facets Tutorials - free	Many-Facet Rasch Measurement (Facets) - free, J.M. Linacre	Fairness, Justice and Language Assessment (Winsteps, Facets), McNamara, Knoch, Fan
Other Rasch-Related Resources: Rasch Measurement YouTube Channel
Rasch Measurement Transactions & Rasch Measurement research papers - free	An Introduction to the Rasch Model with Examples in R (eRm, etc.), Debelak, Strobl, Zeigenfuse	Rasch Measurement Theory Analysis in R, Wind, Hua	Applying the Rasch Model in Social Sciences Using R, Lamprianou	El modelo métrico de Rasch: Fundamentación, implementación e interpretación de la medida en ciencias sociales (Spanish Edition), Manuel González-Montesinos M.
Rasch Models: Foundations, Recent Developments, and Applications, Fischer & Molenaar	Probabilistic Models for Some Intelligence and Attainment Tests, Georg Rasch	Rasch Models for Measurement, David Andrich	Constructing Measures, Mark Wilson	Best Test Design - free, Wright & Stone Rating Scale Analysis - free, Wright & Masters
Virtual Standard Setting: Setting Cut Scores, Charalambos Kollias	Diseño de Mejores Pruebas - free, Spanish Best Test Design	A Course in Rasch Measurement Theory, Andrich, Marais	Rasch Models in Health, Christensen, Kreiner, Mesba	Multivariate and Mixture Distribution Rasch Models, von Davier, Carstensen

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