Introduction to Psychological Testing and Assessment Flashcards
An evaluative or diagnostic procedure or process that varies from the usual, customary, or standardized way a measurement is derived, either by some special accommodation made to the assessee or by alternative methods designed to measure the same variable(s)
Alternate assessment
Monitoring the actions of others or oneself by visual or electronic means while recording quantitative and/or qualitative information regarding the actions, typically for diagnostic or related purposes and either to design intervention or to measure the outcome of an intervention
Behavioral observation
Records, transcripts, and other accounts in written, pictorial, or other form, in any media, that preserve archival information, official and informal accounts, and other data and items relevant to an assessee
Case history data
An informed, scientific idea developed or generated to describe or explain behavior; some examples of constructs include “intelligence,” “personality,” “anxiety,” and “job satisfaction”
Construct
A description or conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and opinion through a process of distinguishing the nature of something and ruling out alternative conclusions
Diagnosis
A tool used to make a diagnosis, usually to identify areas of deficit to be targeted for intervention
Diagnostic test
A unit of work
Erg
The study of work
Ergonomics
Collectively, all of the factors other than what a test purports to measure that contribute to scores on the test; error is a variable in all testing and assessment
Error
In the true score model, the component of variance attributable to random sources irrelevant to the trait or ability the test purports to measure in an observed score or distribution of scores. Common sources of error variance include those related to test construction (including item or content sampling), test administration, and test scoring and interpretation
Error variance
A general reference to the form, plan, structure, arrangement, or layout of test items as well as to related considerations such as time limits for test administration
Format
A tool of assessment in which information is gathered through direct, reciprocal communication
Interview
Assigning numbers or symbols to characteristics of people or objects according to rules
Measurement
Also referred to as normative data; the test performance data of a group of test takers, designed as a reference for evaluating, interpreting, or otherwise placing in context individual test scores
Norms
A work sample; used as a tool in an evaluative or diagnostic process
Portfolio
(1) The form or sheet on which test taker’s responses are entered; (2) a method or procedure for evaluation or scoring
Protocol
The gathering and integrating of psychological data for psychological evaluation, through the use of tests, interviews, case studies, behavioral observation, and specially designed apparatuses and measurement procedures
Psychological assessment
A measuring device or procedure designed to measure psychology-related variables
Psychological test
The measuring of psychology-related variables by means of devices or procedures designed to obtain samples of behavior
Psychological testing
The science of psychological measurement
Psychometrics
An online electronic database maintained by the American Psychological Association and leased to institutional users, designed to help individuals locate relevant documents from psychology, education, nursing, social work, law, medicine, and other disciplines
PsycINFO
A working relationship between examiner and examinee in testing or assessment
Rapport
The extent to which measurements are consistent or repeatable; also, the extent to which measurements differ from occasion to occasion as a function of measurement error
Reliability
An assessment tool wherein assessees are instructed to act as if they were placed in a particular situation
Role play test
(1) A system of ordered numerical or verbal descriptors, usually occurring at fixed intervals, used as a reference standard in measurement; (2) a set of numbers or other symbols whose properties model empirical properties of the objects or traits to which numbers or other symbols are assigned
Scale
(1) In test construction, the process of setting rules for assigning numbers in measurement; (2) the process by which a measuring device is designed and calibrated and the way numbers (or other indices that are scale values) are assigned to different amounts of the trait, attribute, or characteristic measured; (3) assigning numbers in accordance with empirical properties of objects or traits
Scaling
A code or summary statement, usually but not necessarily numerical, that reflects an evaluation of the performance on a test, task, interview, or other sample of behavior
Score(s)
The process of assigning evaluative codes or statements to performance on tests, tasks, interviews, or other behavior samples
Scoring
In true score theory, a statistic designed to estimate the extent to which an observed score deviates from a true score
Standard error of measurement
(1) the transitory exhibition of a trait, indicative of a relatively temporary predisposition to behave in a particular way; (2) in psychoanalytic theory, an inferred psychodynamic disposition designed to convey the dynamic quality of id, ego, and superego in perpetual conflict
State
A measuring device or procedure
Test
Any distinguishable, relatively enduring way in which one individual varies from another
Trait
A general term referring to a judgment regarding how well a test or other measurement tool measures what it purports to measure; this judgment has important implications regarding the appropriateness of inferences made and actions taken on the basis of measurements
Validity
An approach to psychological assessment in which the assessor and assessee may work as partners from initial contact through final feedback
Collaborative psychological assessment
An approach to psychological assessment that encourages therapeutic self-discovery and new understandings through the assessment process
Therapeutic psychological assessment
An interactive
approach to psychological assessment that usually follows a model of (1) evaluation, (2) intervention of some sort, and (3) evaluation
Dynamic assessment
A reference point, usually numerical, derived by
judgment and used to divide a set of data into two or more classifications
Cut score or cutoff score or cutoff
The assembly of case history data into an illustrative account
Case study
A report that include a mere listing of score or scores
Simple scoring report
A report that include a listing of scores as well as statistical analyses of the test taker’s performance
Extended scoring
report
A report that includes numerical or narrative interpretive statements in the report, usually calling the test user’s attention
to certain scores that need to be focused on
Interpretive report
A report that is usually written in language appropriate for communication between assessment professionals, may
provide expert opinion concerning analysis of the data
Consultative report
A report designed to integrate data from sources other than the test itself into the interpretive report; employ previously collected data (such as medication records or behavioral observation data) into the test report
Integrative report
They create tests or other methods of assessment
Test developers and publishers
Licensed, trained or educated professionals who employ psychological tests and assessment methodologies
Test users
Anyone who is the
subject of an assessment or an evaluation
Test takers or assessees
A reconstruction of a deceased individual’s
psychological profile on the basis of archival records, artifacts, and interviews previously
conducted with the deceased assessee or with people who knew him or her.
Psychological autopsy
Interviewer follows scripted questions; no deviations from question order and wording of each question; no adjusting level of language; similar to a pencil-and-paper survey
Structured interviews
Asymmetrical structure wherein main questions and script are fixed but may be reordered and adjusted; interviewer may answer questions and make clarifications
Semi-structured interview
Free flowing conversation wherein both interviewer and interviewees initiate questions and discuss topics
Unstructured interview
