Lesson 6 - Assessment of Decision-Making Styles

Question 1

Define: Assessment

Answer 1

The intensive case study of an individual or the systemic study of groups of individuals.

Question 2

Why might assessment be collaborative?

Answer 2

o 1. Benefits from contributions of person being assessed

o 2. Active involvement is apt to bode well for active involvement in problem resolution and action.

o 3. Assessment is termed heightening self-awareness or self-exploration, and important basis for development.

Question 3

Define: Standardized Test

Give an example

Answer 3

Based on a systematic set of rules regarding administration, scoring, and interpretation.

Rorschach Test
• A qualitative standardized test

Question 4

Define: Projective Techniques

Answer 4

Given an ambiguous enough stimulus, the respondent is likely to project personal associations and meanings onto that stimulus.

eg., How I use astrology and dream dictionaries.

Question 5

Define: Objective Test

Answer 5

Respondant produces a conscious response to a conscious, clear, and unambiguous item.

Contrasts with Projective Techniques

Question 6

True or False: Projective techniques are more affected by social desirability than Objective testing.

Answer 6

False

Question 7

Define: Test-Retest

Answer 7

Use the same measure at 2 different times for the same group of people.

Question 8

Define: Parallel forms (or split half)

Answer 8

Obtain 2 different observations (i.e., parallel forms of the observation) from the same group of people.

Question 9

Define: Internal Consistency

Answer 9

Obtain one set of observations (more than one component or item to the observation) from a group of individuals.

Question 10

Define: Inter-rater

Answer 10

Have 2 people rate behaviours and determine the amount of agreement between them.

Question 11

Define: Content

Answer 11

What is measured:

Question 12

Define: Concurrent (Criterion-related)

Answer 12

What is measured:

-How well the items (or components) represent the entire universe of items

How obtained:

-Ask experts if the items tap the construct of interest

Question 13

Define: Predictive (Criterion-related)

Answer 13

What is measured:

-How well a measure estimates a criterion

How obtained:

-Select a criterion and correlated the measure with the criterion in the present

Question 14

Define: Construct

Answer 14

What is measured:

-How well a measure reflects a latent variable or underlying construct; links the observed scores to some underlying model or theory

How obtained:

-Can be done in several ways:
• Correlate to “Gold Standard”
• Factor Analysis
• Convergent and Discriminant validity

Question 15

How can qualitative assessments be misused in counselling?

Answer 15

Provide appearance of objectivity which encourages over-reliance in at least two ways:

1. It is tempting to shift responsibility for decision-making onto an impersonal instrument
2. Not a short cut or a quick solution.

Test scores change over time.
-The Hazard of the single time period:
• The risk of assuming a single test is indicative of stable variables.

Question 16

List 5 advantages of qualitative assessment

Answer 16

Require more active roles for clients

Generally, more holistic, more integrative.

More congruent with a developmental perspective
-Since the implicit aim is usually to enhance awareness and understanding

More intimately related to counselling process
-Due to active therapist-client partnership

Flexible and adaptable
-Can be adjusted rather easily

Question 17

List 3 disadvantages of qualitative assessment.

Answer 17

o More time consuming

o More affected by subjective interpretation

o Not great for investigating a psychological variable in a large sample/population

Question 18

List the 4 criteria that a Case Study needs to fulfill

Answer 18

1. Must be divergent sources of information
   -Can’t have only one source of information
   • E.g., a parent’s description
2. Sample domains of relevance to a problem of living
   -E.g., not enough to sample vocational interests (when examining a career decision
   • Also assess aptitudes, skills, career goals, and decision-making strategies
3. Conclusions drawn from a convergence of evidence
   - Tests, academic performance, and opinions of teachers and parents might supply multiple sources of evidence for the conclusion that a person is intelligent or mechanically inclined or whatever.
4. Maintain a chain of evidence that links information gathered from exploration to conclusions reached.
   - Links might require judgment, but at least there is some assurance that conclusions are based on evidence rather than otherwise.

Question 19

Which parenting styles tend to produce young adults with stronger decision-making abilities?

Answer 19

Higher levels of autonomy in Democratic and Permissive families

Question 20

Describe the Synthesis Process using appx. 4 steps

Answer 20

The process includes such steps as:

• a person surveys a wide range of alternatives and carefully evaluates the objectives to be accomplished;
• the negative and positive consequences are contrasted;
• the decision maker is deeply engaged in seeking out new data with which to more adequately assess the alternatives;
• finally, once the decision is made, the person prepares to implement the chosen course of action.

Question 21

List and define the 5 subscales of Scott and Bruce’s (1995) GDMS instrument.

Answer 21

Rational
o Characterized by a thorough search for and logical evaluation of alternatives;

Intuitive
o Characterized by a reliance on hunches and feelings;

Dependent
o Characterized by a search for advice and direction from others;

Avoidant
o Characterized by attempts to avoid decision-making;

Spontaneous
o Characterized by a sense of immediacy and a desire to get through the decision-making process as soon as possible.

Question 22

List and define the 4 subscales of Johnson, Coscarelli, and Johnson’s (1986) Decision-Making Inventory

Answer 22

Spontaneous
• Holistic Thinking
• Continually establish and re-establish goals as a process of change
• Quickly relate thoughts together that may not be commonly related

Systematic
• Join component parts of a task in a step-by-step process
• Establish goals by weighing alternative through pre-established logical means

Internal
• Independently think tasks or problems through and are not comfortable in making decisions as a result of talking the task or problem out with other people

External
• Tend to talk about decisions and they value the opinions of others in making their decisions

Question 23

List and Define the 4 Strategies of the Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire (MDMQ)

Answer 23

4 Strategies:

Vigilance
The vigilant decision maker searches painstakingly for relevant information, assimilates information in an unbiased manner, and evaluates alternatives carefully before making a choice.

Buckpassing
The buckpassing decision maker is shifting responsibility to someone else, or constructing wishful rationalizations to justify the least objectionable alternative.

Procrastination
The procrastinating decision maker attempts to escape difficult decisions by delaying or postponing choice.

Hypervigilance
The hypervigilant or panicky decision maker searches frantically for a way out of dilemmas. She or he tends to be impulsive, seizing hastily contrived solutions that seem to promise relief from conflict.

Question 24

What was the MDMQ specifically designed to accomplish?

Answer 24

Cross-Cultural Comparisons

Question 25

What was unique about the Johnson, Coscarelli, and Johnson’s (1986) Decision-Making Inventory?

Answer 25

It differentiated and measured information gathering and analyzing separately.

Question 26

A client is considering a training program in massage therapy and wants to know if that would be a good career move. An interest test indicates a high score for massage therapy. The counsellor reports the score and off the client goes in a cloud of dust to enroll in the training program.

What is wrong with this use of testing?

Answer 26

It is being used as a shortcut and fails to teach the client good decision making.

No Aptitude Test.

Score can easily change.

Counsellor shifts responsibility to the test.

Question 27

How is quantitative and qualitative information integrated within a case study?

Answer 27

A cycle of hypothesis formation and hypothesis testing.
-Isolating distinctive features and integrating features into a whole portrait.

A counsellor and client engage in the exploratory cycle until a portrait is crystallized enough to relate to options and solid enough to support confidence

Question 28

Define: Prospect Theory

Answer 28

People underweigh the probability of moderate and high-probability events.

Overweigh low-probability events

Question 29

List the 5 Patterns of Conflict Theory

Answer 29

• Unconflicted Adherence
• Unconflicted Change
• Defensive Avoidance
• Hypervigilance
• Vigilance

Question 30

What is the main criticism of conflict theory?

Answer 30

Predisposes researcher to assume there is conflict

While model may be appropriate for United States, it may not explain much in other cultures