Ch1 - Psych tests and their use Flashcards
Def of psychological tests
a systematic procedure for obtaining samples of behaviour, relevant to cognitive, affective or interpersonal functioning, and for scoring and evaluating those samples according to standards.
• ALL those need to be met in order to consist a TRUE psych test
2 reasons why standardized tests are called like that
- Because standardizing allows for more precision of results - making all variables uniform
- The results are compared to a normative/standardization sample (average)
Tests def
evaluate if the responder’s answers are right or wrong
Tests in which responses are neither correct/incorrect are called
inventories, questionnaires, surveys, checklists, schedules, etc.
Tests that sample knowledge, skills, cognitive functions =
ability tests
personality tests
All others (don’t evaluate right/wrong responses, don’t sample knowledge, skills, cognitive functions either)
Scale def in psychometrics
a group of items that pertain to a single variable and are arranged in order of difficulty or intensity
Scaling
the process of arriving at the sequencing of items that pertain to a single variable
Battery
group of several tests/subtests that are administered at one time to one person
2 points at which psychological tests are evaluated
- When they are considered as potential tools by prospective users (concerns = technical qualities and evidence base)
- Once they are placed in use (concern = skill of the user and the way tests are used)
ITC: International Test Commission
organizations that promote appropriate policies and practices around psych tests (since 1978)
Authors interests/roles for tests
interested in psychological theory/research
conceive/develop tests
Find a way to disseminate tests
Users interests/roles for tests
interested in the utility of the test for their personal purposes
select/decide a specific test and use it for some purpose
Can also be examiners or scorers
Publishers interests/roles for tests
interested in profit from selling tests
publish/market/sell tests
Test reviewers roles for tests
prepare evaluative critiques based on the technical and practical merits
Tests sponsors role
Institutional boards or govt agencies who contact test developers or publishers for various testing services
Test administrators/exminers roles
administer the tests
Test takers roles
take the test by choice or necessity
Test scorers roles
Tally the raw responses and transform them into scores through objective or mechanical scoring or through evaluative judgements
Test score interpreters role
Interpret test results to their ultimate consumers (test takers, their relatives, other professionals, organizations, etc)
Why were tests less used before the 20th century
Their + important use: tools used in making decisions about people
• Before the 20th century, little need for ppl to make decisions about others because their lives were dictated by social status, gender, economic status, et
2 handicapping factors for clinical tests
- Lack of knowledge about psychopathology
2. Lack of standardization
Galton contribution
intellectual gifting is hereditary (premise)
○ Found regression and correlation
○ Measurement of auditory acuity and weight discrimination
○ Twin study method
Ebbinghaus contribution
fill-in-the-blank sentences
○ Foreshadowed group testing
○ Effective gauge of intellectual ability
Wundt’s contribution
Developing apparatus and standardized procedures for mapping out the range of human capabilities in sensation and perception
• Started with Wundt’s 1st lab in Leipzig - little interest in individual differences
Binet’s contribution
Binet - had to invent tool to detect mental retardation for school placement
• Binet-Simon scale: super successful
○ Was comprehensive
○ Level of intellectual ability could be described quantitatively
Mental level def
Credit given by completing Binet tests
Mental age score
- Credit given by completing Binet tests = mental level
* Stern renamed it mental age score
How to calculate ratio IQ
mental age score
• Divided by participant’s age and multiplied by 100 = Intelligence quotient (IQ) - ratio IQ
• Leads to Stanford-Binet scale - widely used
Spearman contribution
Spearman - worked on empirical evidence for Galton’s link between sensory acuity and intelligence
• Factor analysis (reduce large nbr of variables to a smaller set of factors )
• General intelligence factor (G)
Yerkes contributions
Yerkes (APA president in 1917) developped a group test of intelligence for US army recruits in WWI
• Called the Army Alpha - 8 subtests from other instruments (including Binet scale)
• Followed by the Army Beta - did not require reading
• Mistakes were made - inappropriate conclusions
SATs
• Scholastic Aptitude tests (SAT)
○ In addition to high school grades - for college selection
○ Preceded others like GRE (graduate record exam), MCAT (medical college admission test), and LSAT (law school admission test)
○ Critique: reinforces meritocracy
• Tests of Special Skills and Aptitudes - for job placement
- Identify skills needed for a job - job analysis
2. Administer tests for those skills
3. Correlate results with measures of job performance
Personnel Testing and Vocational Guidance
• Multiple aptitudes batteries
○ Separates the components of scales (numerical, verbal, spatial, etc) to obtain separate scores
○ Assess strengths and weaknesses
○ Intelligence is not a unitary concept
Empirical Criterion Keying
Method to select questions for personality inventories where the items are chosen and weighted according to social criterion.
MMPI uses it - makes it less likely to cheat because items don’t seem to be linked with psychopathologies
• Personality Inventories ex
○ Woodworth Personal Data Sheet - used in WWI to assess illness
○ Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) (used empirical criterion keying technique - makes it less likely to cheat because items don’t seem to be linked with psychopathologies)
○ Factor analysis started to be used in this domain
• Projective techniques ex
○ Rooted in free association methods of Freud, Jung and Kraepelin
○ Rorschach’s test - standardized method
○ Thematic Apperception Test
○ Controversy about their validity because of the qualitative answers
• Neuropsychological Tests ex
○ Observation of brain injuries in WWI
○ Organicity (synonym of brain damage) was examined
○ Has evolved - no longer viewed as all-or-none
Organicity
synonym of brain damage
3 categories for the current uses of tests
- Decision making
○ Often controversial since there will be consequences for one party - the test itself will be attacked
○ Often not used as tools but as means to an end - not their intended use- Psychological research
○ Less controversial than in decision-making
○ Ethical mandates - Self-understanding and personal development
○ Criticism: overuse of labels
○ Therapeutic model of assessment: views testing as a tool to promote self-understanding
- Psychological research
Assessment
process in which tests are used
Steps in the Assessment Process
- Identify goals
- Select instruments to gather data
- Administer / score instruments
- Interpret results
- Use data to make inferences
Used for:
• Diagnostic questions
• Making predictions
• Evaluative judgments
Differences / resemblances between assessment and tests
- Tests = + simple, involves less procedures
- Tests are shorter
- Tests evaluate only the test taker, assessments also use collateral sources of data
- Tests have nomothetic focus, assessment have idiographic
- Tests require less knowledge for use (just the tests and testing procedures, while assessments require knowledge of other assessment methods and the specialty area)
- Tests are more objective, assessment is subjective
- Tests are inexpensive, assessments are expensive
- Tests are for obtanining data for use in making decisions, assessments are for arriving at the decision
- Tests are highly structured, while assessments can have unstructured parts
- Test results are easily evaluated, harder to evaluate assessments due to variability of methods
2 reasons for test misuse
• Insufficient knowledge/competence of test users
○ Guidelines have been published to help, for ex:
§ APA Task Force on Test User Qualifications, which outlines:
□ Core knowledge essential to those using tests to make decisions/policies affecting the lives of test takers
□ Expertise that test users in specific domains must have
• The ease with which we can access tests even if we are not qualified to use them
Published tests
commercially available through a test publisher
Unpublished tests
have to be obtained directly from the investigator who created them
Mental Measurements Yearbook (MMY)
Assist test users in providing evaluative test reviews
Test user qualifications
Classifications of psych tests into 3 levels: A, B, C
• Level C is highest
• Levels vary by the level of training required to purchase and administer the test
Level C tests
• Higher level tests are not available to the public
• Lower level tests are more widely available
○ Example: C is the highest level of licensure/education of psych (doctorate PhD or equivalent, PsyD, as well as full license in their province/country, ex Ordre des Psy)
• Usually, level C tests are used in high-stakes testing
○ AKA individual assessment where an examiner meets 1 on 1 with an examinee
○ Means that the scores play a critical role in the life of that person (ex: access to scholarships, special education resources, formal diagnosis, etc)
Level B tests
- Purchaser/administrator has the equivalent of a Master’s degree and might also have a limited license to practice in their field (does not exist in psych in Quebec), some amount of practical experience
- Might be used in more research-related applications (focus is less on individual assessment, more in group assessment)
Level A tests
• Lowest level
• Low-stake assessment (still important in research-focus)
BA is needed to purchase/administer the test - very simple questionnaires to administer, require little to no training
