Educational and Psychological Measurement

Abstract

Educational and Psychological Measurement, written by W. Holmes Finch and Brian French and first published in 2018 by Routledge is a 17-chapter textbook that provides an accessible introduction to classical and modern psychometrics. In this book, the authors provide a broad overview of a wide range of topics and regularly suggest more specialized texts for readers seeking deeper understanding. This book is intended “for students at the graduate school level, and for researchers working in the field of educational and psychological measurement who need a broad resource for understanding test theory” (Finch & French, p. ix). I imagine that this text could also be appropriate for an advanced undergraduate course on educational or psychological measurement. Several aspects of this book were designed particularly for an audience with minimal experience working with statistics or mathematics. Most chapters include “How It Works” sections in which equations are worked out for the reader with example input values. In addition, most chapters include “Psychometrics in the Real World” sections that provide extended worked examples and interpretations. Although the text is accessible to an audience new to statistics, audiences with this background will still learn much from the authors’ clear but nuanced explanations of topics throughout the book. The following review is based on my reading of the e-version of this textbook as accessed through the VitalSource platform. However, errors and typos that I found in the e-version were cross-checked with a print copy of the book, and the vast majority exist in the same way in both versions. Further comments on the e-version are included toward the end of this review. The remainder of this review includes an overview of the book’s 17 chapters and supplemental resources, followed by a discussion of the book’s overall strengths and limitations and some concluding thoughts.