Kurtosis

In statistics, kurtosis is a measure of the probability distribution of a random variable or a vector of random variables. As mean measures the centrality and variance measures the spreadness of a probability distribution, kurtosis measures the tailedness of the distribution. Kurtosis for a univariate distribution was first introduced by Karl Pearson in 1905. Kurtosis, together with skewness, is widely used to quantify the non-normality—the deviation from a normal distribution—of a distribution. In psychology, kurtosis has often been studied in the field of quantitative psychology to evaluate its effects on psychometric models.

Can Teaching Data Analysis In-House Improve Psychology Students’ Skills?

Background: Acquisition and generalization of data analysis skills are perennial challenges for psychology students. Teaching advanced data analysis in a psychology-specific context might improve students’ learning. Objective: At a mid-sized public university, we evaluated student outcomes after a new quantitative psychology course taught in the psychology department compared to upper-level statistics courses taught in the statistics department. Method: Undergraduate psychology majors ( N = 80) completed quantitative psychology and/or upper-level statistics courses in preparation for their capstone research course. Participants also completed a brief data analysis skills assessment and the Major Field Test for Psychology. Results: Controlling for prerequisite grades and ACT composites, participants who completed quantitative psychology compared to upper-level statistics had significantly better academic outcomes, on average (standardized mean difference = 0.37). Conclusions: Psychology students completing an upper-level data analysis course within versus outside the department demonstrated better learning outcomes in psychology. Teaching Implications: Psychology programs that outsource data analysis courses should consider whether teaching these skills in-house holds potential to improve student outcomes. Alternatively, statistics departments might consider developing psychology-themed courses taught by faculty with expertise in psychological science.

Quantitative Psychology Curriculum Design A Case Study At The Faculty Of Psychology Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta

The need for quantitative psychology in the 21st century is an urgent need for Muslim psychologists to compliment what has been done in term of normative qualitative study. The weakness of Muslims psychologists in mastering the quantitative psychology results in the difficulty of measuring psychological dimensions, such as the dimensions of gratitude, tolerance and so forth. This paper aims to describe the curriculum design of quantitative psychology and the application of the curriculum in teaching and learning process at the Faculty of Psychology Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta. This study used qualitative method in gathering and analyzing the data. The findings of the study indicates that the concrete activities of quantitative psychology can be initiated by developing psychological instruments measuring psychological variables such as patience, gratitude, tolerance, religiosity, spiritual awareness, spiritual commitment, and spiritual intelligence.