Diagnosis: using tests in practice

Test misuse and ethical issues

 Example of misuse
• Lack of inormed consent
• Lack of procedure description
• Test anxiety and stress
• Errors in standarization and administration
• Dehumanization/respect
 Test misuse.
Griggs v. Duke Power Co.
• Supreme Court of the United States on
December 14, 1970
• Company's employment requirements not
related with ability to perform the job
• Discriminating black
• Court: employer must show that hiring
procedures are job related
 Qualifications for Users of
Psychological Tests
LICENSE, DEGREE or TRAINING ≠ EXPERTISE
LICENSE, DEGREE or TRAINING ≠ OBJECTIVITY

Case of George C. Denkowski forensic

psychologists. He provided testimony of at
least fourteen inmates currently on death row,
including two who have exhausted all appeals,
and four other inmates who have already
been executed.
 Sources for Ethical Decisions
• APA: Ethical Principles of Psychologists and
Code of Conduct
• Local code, e.g. Polish Psychological
Association Ethical Code.
• Rights of test takers?
 Test misuse
Test misuse can occur at every step of the testing
process,
• starting with the inappropriate selection of
instruments
– for the purposes to which they are applied
– for the individuals to whom they are administered.
• Errors in administration
• Errors in scoring
• Errors in the interpretation or reporting
 Rights of Test-Takers (APA)

• Be treated with courtesy, respect, regardless of age,

disability, ethnicity, gender, national origin, religion,
sexual orientation or other personal characteristics.
• Be tested with measures that meet professional
standards and that are appropriate.
• Receive a brief explanation prior to testing about the
purpose(s) for testing, the kind(s) of tests to be used.

• Individual’s freedom to decline, and freedom to

withdraw, is respected.
• Have test administered and your test results interpreted
by trained individuals who follow professional codes of
ethics.
 Ethical issues in psych testing
1. Competence of psychologist
2. Informed Consent
3. The right to Results
4. Confidentiality
5. Test security
6. Divided Loyalties
7. Invasion of privacy
8. Labeling
9. Dehumanization
 1. Competence
• Test givers should:
• select test after review of tests available
• have knowledge of test materials & manual
• recognize boundaries of competence
• not using test for purposes not recommended by developers
• knowledge of ethical codes, e.g.:
– provide test-takers, or their parents, with information about their
rights
– explain results in language test-taker can understand
 Theoretical Issues
• Is your test reliable? Reliability – upper limit on validity.
• Is your test valid for particular purpose?
• Are you measuring a stable characteristic of the person
being tested? Will it still be true next year?
• If the test result says that person does not have the
characteristic you’re looking for, does that mean they could
never acquire that characteristic?
 2. Informed Consent
Consent requires “affirmative permission
before actions can be taken”.
 Informed Consent
Elements of Informed Consent Agreements
–Must be presented in a clear and understandable manner
–Reason for the test administration.
–Tests and evaluations procedures to be used.
–How assessment scores will be used.
–Who will have access to the results.
–Present rights of test taker e.g. to refuse.
 Informed Consent

If underage is tested written informed consent

must be obtained from the parents, guardian.
 Informed consent - exceptions

• When it is acceptable to test without getting

consent?
• When it is necessary to test without getting
consent?
 Informed consent - exceptions

• Acceptable, e.g., psychology students during a

course.
• Necessary e.g., when mandated by law.
 Research: debriefing
• Restate purpose of the research.
• Explain how the results will be used (usually
emphasize that the interest is in the group
findings).
• Reiterate that findings will be treated
confidentially.
• Answer all of the respondents questions fully.
 3. Knowledge of Results
• Must fully disclose test results in understandable
language
• Avoid using theoretical constructs e.g. crystallized
intelligence, ego strenght etc.
• Do not use technical terms, e.g. your neuroticism
is 6 sten.
 4. Confidentiality
• Test results are confidential information
• Release of results should only be made to another
qualified professional after client’s consent
 5. Test Security
• Test materials must be kept secure
• Test items are not revealed except in training
programs and when mandated by law, to protect
test integrity
• Test items are private property
 6. Divided loyalties
• Who is the client?
• The person being tested, or the institution you
work for?
• What if these parties have conflicting interests?
Examples?
• How do you maintain test security but also
explain an adverse decision?
 7. Invasion of Privacy
• When tested people may feel their privacy is invaded.
• The clinician is always ultimately responsible; this includes
scoring and interpretation done by a computer
• Informed consent – informing the client about both the
nature of the information being collected and the purposes
for the which results will be used
• Relevance – is the information gathered through assessment
relevant to the counseling? Counselor should be able to
clearly state purpose and benefits of appraisal process
 8. Labeling
• Once diagnosed, the desease can be labeled.
• E.g. psychiatric labels can be damaging.
• Public has little understanding of e.g. schizophrenia.
• When diagnosing, use least stigmatizing label
consistent with accurate representation
– It does not mean that counselors should always use less or
nonstigmatizing diagnostic codes; a less stigmatizing code
that is inaccurate could prevent the client from receiving
appropriate treatment.
 8. Labeling
• Problem: a psych. desease is perceived as
medical.
• Ergo: ill person cannot do anything about it.
• It is not true for psychological disorders.
• A person can take responsibility to get better.
 9. Dehumanization
• Some forms of testing remove any human
element from decision-making process
• Seen as becoming more prevalent with the
increase in computer-testing
 9. Dehumanization
• Does computerized testing and analysis of test
results create a danger of minimizing human
uniqueness?
• Humans are very complex – which allows us to
be individuals, different from each other
• But testing and interpretation generalize
Diagnosis and assessment
 Testing vs. decision making
• Providing opinions e.g. educational or forensic
setting
• Providing base for decision e.g.. selection
process, therapy in clinical setting
In majority of cases test user (diagnostician) is not
making formal decisions
However!
in many cases opinion or diagnosis is key point in
someone's else decision
WRONG DIAGNOSIS → WRONG DECISION
 Responsibilities of Test Takers
• The responsibility to read and/or listen to
their rights and responsibilities.
• The responsibility to ask questions prior to
testing about
– why the test is being given,
– how it will be given,
– what they will be asked to do,
– what will be done with the results.
 Test selection
First question test user needs to ask is?
To Use or Not to Use? (Urbina 2004)
Cost-benefit analysis:
1. What kind of information is needed?
2. How will this information be used?
3. What and how many of the information is available from
other sources?
4. What other tools might be used?
5. What are the advantages of using tests instead of, or in
addition to, other sources of information?
6. What are the costs (time, effort, money…) of using tests
instead of, or in addition to, other sources of information?
 Test selection
Reasons for not using tests
• The purpose is unknown or unclear
• Lack of expertise with the test documentation and procedures, lack
of training with the test.
• Lack of control over the test results.
• The information is already available, or can be gathered more
efficiently otherwise.
• The test taker is not willing / able to cooperate.
• The test taker is likely to be harmed someway due to the testing
process.
• The environmental setting and conditions for the testing are
inadequate.
• The test format / materials are inappropriate for test taker (e.g. age,
sex, cultural or linguistic background, disability…)
• The norms are outdated, inadequate, or inapplicable.
• The reliability or validity of test scores is inadequate or unknown.
Urbina,2004
 Two main advantages (reasons)
• Efficiency.
• Objectivity.
 Evaluating a test
• Normative sample
• Reliability
– Determine the potential sources of error.
– Evaluate the reliability data available (including sample!)
– Evaluate the data on reliability in light of all the other
attributes of the test (normative and validity data, cost and
time constraints…)
– Keeping all other things equal, select the one is most
reliable for the purpose and population.
• Validity
– Validation strategies in relation to test score interpretation
– Aspects of construct validity and related sources of
evidence
 Considerations in relation to test
takers
Test medium (e.g. computer administrated vs pen and pencil)
• advantages or disadvantages for examinees, depending on their
familiarity with the medium, sensory acuity in the auditory and
visual modes, motor skills, and so forth (Even when a test includes
some practice items)

Test format (e.g. free response vs selected-response items, group vs

individual testing)
• Different type of items are prone to influence of other types of
intervening variables

Language of test items

• Level of vocabulary, reading skills, and writing skills can influence
test performance
 Administration
• Be prepared: Reading the manual!
• Do everything by the book (manual)
• Preparing the Testing Environment
– Necessary materials
– Space, light, air
– No distractors
– No other people (if the procedure does not
require them)
– Special needs
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for
Children
 Test user and test taker
• Establishing Rapport (the harmonious
relationship that should exist between test takers
and examiners)
– Friendly and proffesional
 Test taker
• Explanation of the purpose of the test and the
testing procedures

considerations
• Test anxiety
• Test-taking skills
• Test-Taker Dissimulation
 Scoring
Clear instructions

Sources of errors
• Mistakes (in case of objective procedures)
• Poor training (in case of open ended)
• Errors in transformations
 Interpretation
• actual behavior samples (responses to test items)
• aggregation of these samples into one score
• available evidence concerning the reliability of
the obtained scores
• comparison of scores frame of reference
• evaluation of scores in light of the quality of
validation data available
• specific context and situation in which the testing
takes place
• observation during testing
 Communicating Test Results
Reporting
Two main factors
• the purpose for which the testing was
undertaken and
• the party on whose behalf the testing was
undertaken
MAIN RULE: provide the information derived
from test scores, including its limitations, in
language that the recipient can understand.
 Excercise
• Definition of the construct
• Reliability – how it was used
• Info about SEM
• Validity – how was assessed
• Norms
• Administration of the test – how?