Integrative Complexity Training READ ME!

Last updated: April 6, 2005

You are reading this because you have just obtained the integrative complexity training materials package via the internet or as part of an e-mail response from someone in Dr. Peter Suedfeld's laboratory at the University of British Columbia.

You should have received the following files in addition to this READ ME! document:

--Chapter.DOC - a general description of the integrative complexity construct and its use in research (reprinted by permission of the Cambridge University Press).
--MANUAL.DOC - The full text of the most in-depth document on the topic.
--Practice.DOC - practice sets for learning how to score complexity. (answers on the last page)
--Guide.DOC - verbal explanations of the answers for the first five sets of the practice materials.
--Test.DOC - to take when you think you're ready for certification.
[".DOC" will be replaced with ".pdf" if you chose to download Adobe Acrobat files]

To train yourself to score complexity, begin by reading the first two documents. The introductory chapter will give you general information about the concept of integrative complexity and the scoring manual will provide detailed information regarding how to score complexity. When we run "live" workshops, we ask that all participants read these two documents prior to the first day of the workshop.

Once you understand the essentials of how to score, begin to score the paragraphs in the practice sets. Score one set at a time, checking your scores against the answers after each completed set. For the first five sets, the scoring guideline document provides verbal explanations of the correct scores, based upon discussions from actual scoring workshops. This is a recent addition to the scoring materials which has already proven itself an invaluable component of the learning process. Many learning scorers raved about its usefulness when it only covered two of the sets. Now sets III-V have been added to meet the demand for more.

Practice scoring until you feel confident that you understand the construct and some of the common scoring idiosyncrasies. Be patient, this may take a little while and the practice materials are intentionally chosen to be problematic, so try not to get frustrated. If you get stuck, contact David Eichhorn at dr.eichhorn@juno.com and he will try to answer your questions.

When you are ready, take the test and send the results to David Eichhorn at the above address and he will notify you of your reliability level. The goal is to obtain a minimum of .85 reliability with a qualified scorer. In this case, with the recorded scores for the test paragraphs; in the case of research, with other independent scorers of the same material. By the way, when learning complexity it is common and useful to work in groups, but when taking the test please work independently. ONE SCORER PER TEST. There are also more practice materials and a second test if the first time doesn't take. NEW as of 2003: These additional materials have now been added to the workshop website to allow a shorter turn-around time should you need to take the second test.

NOTE: When submitting your test scores, please place the scores ALONE (i.e., without paragraph numbers), in order, in a single column. This greatly simplifies the reliability analysis process. Thank you.

On behalf of Dr. Peter Suedfeld and the rest of his laboratory, thank you for your interest in learning to score integrative complexity and good luck!

Sincerely,

David Eichhorn, PhD
Webmaster and former Research Assistant
for Dr. Peter Suedfeld
e-mail: dr.eichhorn@juno.com
web source: http://www.psych.ubc.ca/~psuedfeld/Download.html