Chapter 1 Flashcards
What is a test?
A test is a measurement device or technique used to quantify behavior or aid in the understanding and prediction of behavior.
Are test scores perfect measures of a behavior or characteristic?
Test scores are not perfect measures of a behavior or characteristic. A test measures only a sample of behavior, and error is always associated with a sampling process.
Item
An item is a specific stimulus to which a person responds overtly; this response can be scored or evaluated (for example, classified, graded on a scale, or counted)
Item (in simple terms)
In simple terms, items are the specific questions or problems that make up a test. The problems presented at the beginning of this chapter are examples of test items. The overt response would be to fill in or blacken one of the spaces.
What is the importance of items is psychological and educational tests?
Because psychological and educational tests are made up of items, the data they produce are explicit and hence subject to scientific inquiry.
What is a psychological or educational test?
A psychological test or educational test is a set of items that are designed to measure characteristics of human beings that pertain to behavior.
Overt behavior
Overt behavior is an individual ’ s observable activity.
Covert behavior
Covert behavior takes place within an individual and cannot be directly observed. For example, your feelings and thoughts are types of covert behavior.
How do psychologist deal with the meaning of the scores?
To deal with such problems of interpretation, psychologists make use of scales, which relate raw scores on test items to some defined theoretical or empirical distribution.
Traits & scores
Scores on tests may be related to traits, which are enduring characteristics or tendencies to respond in a certain manner. “ Determination, ” sometimes seen as “ stubbornness, ” is an example of a trait; “ shyness ” is another.
Scores & state
Test scores may also be related to the state, or the specific condition or status, of an individual. A determined individual after many setbacks may, for instance, be in a weakened state and therefore be less inclined than usual to manifest determination.
Ability tests vs Personality tests
Type of Tests
There are Individual tests & group tests as well as ability tests & personality tests.
Individual Tests
Those that can be given to only one person at a time are known as individual tests.
The examiner or test administrator gives the test to only one person at a time, the same way that psychotherapists see only one person at a time.
Group Test
A group test can be administered to more than one person at a time by a single examiner, such as when an instructor gives every-one in the class a test at the same time.
Different types of abitlity
Historically, experts have distinguished among achievement, aptitude, and intelligence as different types of ability.
Achievement
Achievement refers to previous learning. A test that measures or evaluates how many words you can spell correctly is called a spelling achievement test .
Aptitude
Aptitude refers to the potential for learning or acquiring a specific skill. A spelling aptitude test measures how many words you might be able to spell given a certain amount of training, education, and experience.
Intelligence
Traditionally distinguished from achievement and aptitude, intelligence refers to a person ’s general potential to solve problems, adapt to changing circumstances, think abstractly, and profit from experience.
What is the the distinctions among achievement, aptitude, and intelligence?
The the distinctions among achievement, aptitude, and intelligence are not always so cut-and-dried because all three are highly interrelated.
In view of the considerable overlap of achievement, aptitude, and intelligence tests, all three concepts are encompassed by which term?
human ability
Ability Tests vs Personality Tests
There is a clear-cut distinction between ability tests and personality tests. Whereas ability tests are related to capacity or potential, personality tests are related to the overt and covert dispositions of the individual.
Types of personality tests
structured personality tests & projective personality test.
Structured personality tests
provide a statement, usually of the “ self-report ” variety, and require the subject to choose between two or more alternative responses such as “ True ” or “ False. ”
Projective personality tests
In contrast to structured personality tests, they are are unstructured. In a projective personality test , either the stimulus (test materials) or the required response — or both — are ambiguous.
Example: Rorschach test
What is psychological testing?
Refers to all the possible uses, applications, and underlying concepts of psychological and educational tests.
What is the main use of psychological testing
The main use of these tests, though, is to evaluate individual differences or variations among individuals. Thus, the most important purpose of testing is to differentiate among those taking the tests.
What are the three divisions of this book (Psychological Testing)
Principles , Applications , and Issues . Together, these parts cover psychological testing from the most basic ideas to the most complex.
What do we mean by principles of psychological testing?
We mean the basic concepts and fundamental ideas that underlie all psychological and educational tests.
Reliability
Refers to the accuracy, dependability, consistency, or repeatability of test results. In more technical terms, reliability refers to the degree to which test scores are free of measurement errors.
Validity
Refers to the meaning andusefulness of test results. More specifically, validity refers to the degree to which a certain inference or interpretation based on a test is appropriate.
Test Administration
The act of giving a test
Interview
Is a method of gathering information through verbal interaction, such as direct questions.
Importance of the Interview
Not only has the interview traditionally served as a major technique of gathering psychological information in general, but also data from interviews provide an important complement to test results.
Origins of Testing
The origins of testing are neither recent nor American. Evidence suggests that the Chinese had a relatively sophisticated civil service testing program more than 4000 years ago.
Testing and Han Dynasty
By the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.E. to 220 C.E.), the use of test batteries (two or more tests used in conjunction) was quite common. These early tests related to such diverse topics as civil law, military affairs, agriculture, revenue, and geography.
When the tests became quite well developed in China?
During the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644 C.E.) a national multistage testing program involved local and regional testing centers equipped with special testing booths.
The Western world most likely learned about testing programs from through the________
Chinese.
Who encouraged the English East India Company in 1832 to copy the Chinese system as a method of selecting employees for overseas duty.
Reports by British missionaries and diplomats.
Examples of how Westerners copy testing methods from the Chinese system.
- 1832 English East India Company copy the Chinese system as a method of selecting employees for overseas duty.
- Because testing programs worked well for the company, the British government adopted a similar system of testing for its civil service in 1855.
- After the British endorsement of a civil service testing system, the French and German governments followed suit.
- In 1883, the U.S. government established the American Civil Service Commission, which developed and administered competitive examinations for certain government jobs.
The most basic concept underlying psychological and educational testing pertains to what?
individual differences.
Tests are specifically designed to measure individual______________ in ability and ________ among people.
differences/ personality
