tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-278397332011-04-21T15:55:05.106-04:00A Psychometricianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028256495577031519noreply@blogger.comBlogger21100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27839733.post-1147483719590108132006-05-12T21:28:00.000-04:002006-05-12T21:28:39.596-04:00Hello again, I suspect that you have been waiting patiently for me to actually add a comment. In fact, many of you probably see this blog as an opportunity to live vicariously through my daily stories. After all there are not many jobs as exciting as a psychometrician. As you can imagine my day always starts off in a way that chaos theory would deem unpredictable. When I get to my office, I usually login to my computer and then go to get a Diet Mountain Dew (that’s right, those commercials with the skaters for Mountain Dew would have been of psychometricians, but none of us could be contained long enough to make a commercial). Although on certain days, when I really want to shake things up, I will get my Diet Mountain Dew before I even go to my office (of course, this is only when I am feeling particularly dangerous). My office is probably 12 by 12 foot, which I agree is more than I really need. I mean after all how much space is required for a chair and a high speed desktop computer. Who needs anything else? In addition, there are no windows, which gives me the opportunity to liven things up with an exciting desktop picture and screensaver. Believe me there are times that I will NOT stop working just to avoid the shock of the screensaver (sometimes I just can’t take it). <br /><br />Well, that is enough about my office for now…now to let you know some of the most shocking news that I have heard in a long time. In turns out that kernel equating is not what you do with the left over popcorn kernels that have not been popped. I thought that kernel equating referred to the basic procedure of gathering pairs of un-popped popcorn kernels in such a way that, within pairs, popcorn kernels were as similar as possible while ensuring that the variability across popcorn pairs was maximized. I even assumed that by using some imagining software, such an algorithm had been developed to optimize this procedure (probably based on a principal components analysis), because…as we know…all algorithms are better than human judgment. However, it turns out that instead, kernel equating is a method used to put two different tests on the same scale. As you can imagine, when I first heard this it was difficult to believe …<br /><br />It is certainly something to think about…and for those of you who also thought that kernel equating involved popcorn…just slowly let it sink in…I know…it is shocking.<br /><br />A Psychometrician<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/27839733-114748371959010813?l=memopsych.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>A Psychometricianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028256495577031519noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27839733.post-1147223380141721842006-05-09T20:59:00.000-04:002006-05-10T22:47:37.326-04:00Hello all. Welcome to memoirs of a psychometrician. It is here that I will provide a small window to the whirlwind of life that I and other colleagues, as psychometricians, are leading. Of course, as you can imagine, I do not have enough time to tell all of the exciting things that happen so I will try to pick out only the most exciting. Expect to hear from me soon.<br /><br />A Psychometrician<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/27839733-114722338014172184?l=memopsych.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>A Psychometricianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028256495577031519noreply@blogger.com0