Assessment & Measurement students and faculty present at ICPS

Sara Finney (Professor of Graduate Psychology; Associate Director of CARS), Kate Schaefer (Assessment & Measurement PhD student & Psychological Sciences MA alum) and Mara McFadden (Psychological Sciences MA student) traveled to Brussels, Belgium, to present three studies at the International Convention of Psychological Sciences.

The International Convention of Psychological Science (ICPS) is the culmination of efforts by the Association for Psychological Science (APS) and an international network of organizations and individual scientists to stimulate scientific advances that are integrative. That is, at ICPS investigators attack scientific problems by drawing broadly on research conducted at multiple levels of analysis and in multiple branches of psychological science, the cognitive sciences, the neurosciences, and related disciplines. ICPS has been designed to surmount artificial disciplinary boundaries that can impede scientific progress and to highlight areas of investigation in which those boundaries have already been overcome.

Schaefer, McFadden and Finney shared their empirical research measuring, modeling, and trying to influence student motivation during low-stakes assessments.

• Finney, S.J, McFadden, M.E. & Schaefer, K.E. (2023, March). Priming to Increase Test-Taking Effort Is Moderated By Gender: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial. Presented at the International Convention of Psychological Sciences, Brussels, Belgium.
• McFadden, M.E & Finney, S.J. (2023, March). Double Dosing: Does it Improve the Utility of the Question-Behavior Effect? Presented at the International Convention of Psychological Sciences, Brussels, Belgium.
• Schaefer, K.E. & Finney, S.J. (2023, March). Unengaged Participants and Reverse-scored Items: Implications for the Factor Structure of Non-Cognitive Measures. Presented at the International Convention of Psychological Sciences, Brussels, Belgium.

In addition to presenting their research and representing JMU, this conference provided a unique opportunity for Schaefer, McFadden and Finney to discuss our graduate programs and the work conducted in the Center for Assessment and Research Studies with international colleagues.

Schaefer had the following to say about this educational experience.

“I loved getting to attend sessions related to methods to improve psychological science research, the psychology of anti-science beliefs, and detecting fraud in the publishing process. I was able to attend sessions where I learned about research that is different from my typical research and that included an international perspective. Additionally, I was able to engage with people from all over the world to discuss assessment and measurement. Discussing my poster with other researchers was very inspiring. I hope to incorporate some of the feedback I received (such as different ways of asking students for their motivation levels) into future research projects.”

McFadden also raved about this experience presenting her work to an international audience.

“I really enjoyed talking about the Question Behavior Effect with an international audience. I was surprised and happy to know that other researchers in the field know about this topic and were happy to discuss how it can be applied to a test-taking setting. It was my first time presenting on my thesis and I really appreciated the feedback I received. Additionally, I really enjoyed getting to attend various sessions at ICPS. I was able to learn about new topics that aren’t discussed as frequently at the national conferences that I have previously attended, such as registered reports and detecting fake articles. Overall, this culturally enriching experience helped me gain more confidence as a presenter and I hope will help me be a more well-rounded researcher.”

Schaefer, McFadden and Finney thank the Department of Graduate Psychology, the Psychological Science MA program, the Assessment & Measurement PhD program, and the Center for Global Engagement for supporting the dissemination of their scholarship at the ICPS conference.