Topic 3: DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TESTING AND ASSESSMENT

Tests and assessments are often used as synonyms in the marketing of tests and in educational
testing. In some fields of psychological practice, such as clinical and neuropsychological work,
these terms convey significantly different meanings.

Psychological tests are simply one of the tools used in the process of psychological assessment.
Psychological tests may be key components in psychological assessment, but the two differ
fundamentally in important ways

Even though there is little question about the general superiority of assessment over testing with
regard to comprehensiveness and fairness, the greater complexity of the assessment process
makes its results far more difficult to evaluate than those of testing.

 A test is used to examine someone’s knowledge of something to determine what that

person knows or has learned. Testing measures the level of skill or knowledge that
has been reached.
 Assessment is the systematic process of documenting and using empirical data to
measure knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs. Assessment covers a broader range
of procedures than testing
 A test is a “product” that measures a particular behavior or set of
objectives. Meanwhile assessment is seen as a procedure instead of a product.

Assessment

Assessment is an end result of gathering information intended to advance psychological theory

and research and to increase the probability that wise decisions will be made in applied settings
(e.g., in selecting the most promising people from a group of job applicants).

Assessment covers a broader range of procedures than testing and includes both formal and
informal measures. e.g., interview, inventories, questionnaires, rating scales, observation, and
case history

Steps in the Assessment Process

• The first and most important step in psychological assessment is to identify its goals as
clearly and realistically as possible. Without clearly defined objectives that are agreed
upon by the assessor and the person requesting the assessment, the process is not likely to
be satisfactory.
 • In most instances, the process of assessment ends with a verbal or written report,
communicating the conclusions that have been reached to the persons who requested the
assessment, in a comprehensible and useful manner.

In between these two points, the professional conducting the assessment, usually a psychologist
or a counselor, will need to employ her or his expertise at every step. These steps involve

• The appropriate selection of instruments to be used in gathering data,

• their careful administration,

• scoring,

• interpretation, and—most important of all—

• the judicious use of the data collected to make inferences about the question at hand.

The last step goes beyond psychometric expertise and requires a knowledge of the field to which
the question refers, such as health care, educational placement, psychopathology, organizational
behavior, or criminology, among others.

Examples of issues amenable to investigation through psychological assessment include:

• diagnostic questions, such as determining level of cognitive functioning or

differentiating between depression and dementia.

• making predictions, such as estimating the likelihood of homicidal behavior or

of success in a job; and

• evaluative judgments, such as those involved in child custody decisions or in

assessing the effectiveness of programs or interventions.

None of these complex issues can be resolved by means of test scores alone because the same
test score can have different meanings depending on the examinee and the context in which it
was obtained. Furthermore, no single test score or set of scores can capture all the aspects that
need to be considered in resolving such issues.

Typical Differences between Psychological Testing and Assessment

• Assessment is a problem solving process which cannot be reduced to a finite set of rules.
It is a variable process which depends upon the question asked, the person involved, time
commitments, and many other factors. It can never be reduced to ‘A means B’ type of
thinking because the same score can have different meaning and the same meaning can
 be conveyed by different scores. Assessment is a complex process which involves an
interaction between the psychologist, reason of assessment, raw data and frame of
reference. The process of assessment cannot be indifferent to the reason as to why the
assessor is asked to collect information about a person, referral question, the purpose, and
the context of his assignment.

• In the assessment process psychologist plays a central role and all the concepts that are
employed to understand the therapeutic relationship (alliance, transfer,
countertransference) are central during the testing phase of assessment). Testing
procedures make use of quantification, quantitative relations, norms, probabilities etc.,
and give little importance to the assessment psychologist in the integration of information
about a person. In assessment, however, psychologist is expected to play an important
role in integration of data by selecting the theory that best describes the data. He has
freedom to make use of whatever theory he considers to be suitable for understanding the
individual client who has specific problems. He can even mix the theories in making
sense of the information available to him.

• The term measurement lacks the connotations of utility and social relevance while
assessment is always useful. Personality assessment includes gathering and organization
of information about an individual with the purpose that it would lead to a better
understanding about the person. This understanding would lead to prediction about his
future behavior.

Basis of the Psychological Testing Psychological Assessment

Difference

Degree of Simpler; involves one uniform More complex; each

complexity procedure, frequently assessment involves various
Unidimensional procedures (interviewing,
observation, testing, etc.) and
dimensions.

Duration Shorter, lasting from a few Longer, lasting from a few

minutes to a few hours. hours to a few days or more

Sources of One person, the test taker. Often collateral sources, such
Data as relatives or teachers, are
used in addition to the subject
of the assessment.
Focus How one person or group The uniqueness of a given
compares with others individual, group, or situation
(nomothetic) (idiographic).

Qualifications Knowledge of tests and Knowledge of testing and

for use testing procedures. other assessment methods as
well as of the specialty area
assessed (e.g., psychiatric
disorders, job requirements).

Objectivity required;
Procedural quantification is critical. Subjectivity, in the form of
basis clinical judgment, required;
quantification rarely possible.

Inexpensive, especially when Very expensive; requires

Cost. testing is done in groups. intensive use of highly qualified
Professionals.

Purpose Obtaining data for use in Arriving at a decision

making decisions. concerning the referral
question or problem.

Degree of Highly structured Entails both structured and

structure unstructured aspects

Evaluation of Relatively simple investigation Very difficult due to variability

results of reliability and validity of methods, assessors, nature
based on group results. of presenting questions, etc.