An online platform for sociocognitive metrology: the BEAR Assessment System Software

Abstract

Multiple recent collaborations of metrology engineers and psychometricians have identified new areas of common interest and shared methods. Of particular note are criteria for well-defined measurands and unit quantities that retain their properties across samples and instruments. Such criteria are integrated into the BEAR Assessment System (BAS) and also into its accompanying software, the BEAR Assessment System Software (BASS), an online application built on the idea of measurement scales that stand for generalized invariant patterns of abilities, health states, behaviours, etc. The repeatable stability of these structures has been established for decades, with metrological potentials of increasing interest following from demonstrations of how various assessments can be linked together in common systems, not unlike the metrological systems of weights and measures taken for granted in commerce and the natural sciences. The user tools in BASS emphasize (1) flexibility in designing, choosing, and assigning assessments, (2) simplifying scoring, and (3) reports written in ways that make them accessible and useful to a wide range of stakeholders, such as clients, patients, advocates, citizens, voters, students, parents, managers, line workers, etc. Reports are customizable for a wide range of measurement applications at the levels of individuals, small or large groups, as well as for theory-oriented explanatory models.