Midterm (Oct. 20, 2017) Flashcards
What are the 3 defining characteristics of a psychological test?
- Sample of behaviour
- Obtained under standardized conditions
- Established rules for scoring/obtaining numeric info from sample of behaviour
Ideally, psychological tests should be:
Standardized
Representative
Consistent
What are some uses of psychological testing?
- making important decisions about individuals
- hiring decisions
- clinical diagnosis
- entrance scores
- vocational placement
- credentials, licensure
What are some drawbacks of psychological testing?
- limited precision
- no method guarantees complete accuracy
What are several categories of human behaviour that are hard to quantify?
- social
- physical
- psychological
What are the 6 assumptions of psychological testing?
- psychological tests measure what they are intended to
- individual’s behaviour and associated test scores will typically remain stable over time
- individuals will understand items in the same way
- individuals will report accurately about themselvs
- individuals will report honestly about their thoughts and feelings
- individual’s score is reflective of “true score” and error
What are the 3 general types of tests in psychological testing?
- Task performance
- Behavioural observation
- Self-report measures
Describe standardized tests
- administered to a large group
- representative of those for whom test as been designed
- formal for multiple administrations
Describe unstandardized tests
- administered to small groups
- less formal for single administration
Describe behavioural observation
Assesses typical behaviour or performance within a specific context, NOT maximal performance
Describe objective tests
- participants choose response out of several options
- predetermined “correct” response
- objective scoring
Describe projective tests
- unstructured
- participants required to respond to ambiguous stimuli
Describe objective scoring
- same scoring rules apply for every individual
- theoretically should arrive at the same final score
- structured (ex. Big 5 personality test)
Describe subjective scoring
- scores rely on judgment of examiner
- used by highly trained experts
- unstructured (ex. Rorschach inkblot test)
What are some similarities between psychological tests?
- measure individual behaviour
- behaviour is used to measure a particular construct
- may be used to make predictions
What are some differences between psychological tests?
- specific behaviour and construct being measured
- how, when, where test was administered
- scoring and interpretation
- validity and reliability are unique to each test
What is the assumption/founding idea of psychological measurement?
People differ in discernable ways in terms of abilities/attitudes/beliefs
Define variability
measure of extent to which test scores vary
Define standard deviation
the difference between individual’s score and mean (how much individuals deviate from the mean)
What is variance
the measure of the extent to which test scores differ or vary
(the average of squared deviation scores)
What are Z scores
standardized scores to draw comparisons between deviation scores