From traces to measures: Large language models as a tool for psychological measurement from text

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Simons, Joseph J. P., Ze, Wong Liang, Bhattacharya, Prasanta, Loh, Brandon Siyuan, Gao, Wei
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866916436016889856
author Simons, Joseph J. P.
Ze, Wong Liang
Bhattacharya, Prasanta
Loh, Brandon Siyuan
Gao, Wei
author_facet Simons, Joseph J. P.
Ze, Wong Liang
Bhattacharya, Prasanta
Loh, Brandon Siyuan
Gao, Wei
contents Large language models are increasingly being used to label or rate psychological features in text data. This approach helps address one of the limiting factors of digital trace data - their lack of an inherent target of measurement. However, this approach is also a form of psychological measurement (using observable variables to quantify a hypothetical latent construct). As such, these ratings are subject to the same psychometric considerations of reliability and validity as more standard psychological measures. Here we present a workflow for developing and evaluating large language model based measures of psychological features which incorporate these considerations. We also provide an example, attempting to measure the previously established constructs of attitude certainty, importance and moralization from text. Using a pool of prompts adapted from existing measurement instruments, we find they have good levels of internal consistency but only partially meet validity criteria.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2405_07447
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle From traces to measures: Large language models as a tool for psychological measurement from text
Simons, Joseph J. P.
Ze, Wong Liang
Bhattacharya, Prasanta
Loh, Brandon Siyuan
Gao, Wei
Human-Computer Interaction
Large language models are increasingly being used to label or rate psychological features in text data. This approach helps address one of the limiting factors of digital trace data - their lack of an inherent target of measurement. However, this approach is also a form of psychological measurement (using observable variables to quantify a hypothetical latent construct). As such, these ratings are subject to the same psychometric considerations of reliability and validity as more standard psychological measures. Here we present a workflow for developing and evaluating large language model based measures of psychological features which incorporate these considerations. We also provide an example, attempting to measure the previously established constructs of attitude certainty, importance and moralization from text. Using a pool of prompts adapted from existing measurement instruments, we find they have good levels of internal consistency but only partially meet validity criteria.
title From traces to measures: Large language models as a tool for psychological measurement from text
topic Human-Computer Interaction
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.07447