Slide 1-Introduction To Psychological Testing
Slide 1-Introduction To Psychological Testing
Testing
Definitions
• Anastasi (1988) defined test as an “objective” and
“standardized” measure of a sample of behavior.
• A test is a measurement device or technique used
to quantify behavior or aid in the understanding
and prediction of behavior (Kaplan, 2013).
• According to The British Psychological Society,
The term ‘psychological test’ refers to a procedure
for the evaluation of psychological functions (as
cited in Toplis, Dulewicz, & Fletcher, 2005).
• A psychological test or educational test is a set of
items that are designed to measure characteristics
of human beings that pertain to behavior.
• Psychological Testing refers to the measuring of
psychology-related variables by means of devices
or procedures designed to obtain samples of
behavior
• Psychological testing refers to all the possible
uses, applications, and underlying concepts of
psychological and educational tests.
• Psychological assessment is basically a
judgmental process, whereby a broad range of
information, often including the results of
psychological tests, is integrated into a
meaningful understanding of a particular person
(as cited in Domino & Domino, 2006).
Types of Assessments
Educational assessment refers to, broadly speaking, the use of tests
and other tools to evaluate abilities and skills relevant to success or
failure in a school or pre-school context.
Retrospective assessment may be defined as the use of evaluative
tools to draw conclusions about psychological aspects of a person as
they existed at some point in time prior to the assessment.
Remote assessment refers to the use of tools of psychological
evaluation to gather data and draw conclusions about a subject who
is not in physical proximity to the person or people conducting the
evaluation.
Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) refers to the “in the
moment” evaluation of specific problems and related cognitive
and behavioral variables meet the very time and place that they
occur. Using various tools of assessment, EMA has been used to
help tackle diverse clinical problems including post-traumatic
stress disorder (Black et al., 2016), problematic smoking (Ruscio
et al., 2016), and chronic abdominal pain in children (Schurman
& Friesen, 2015).
Therapeutic Assessment
TA is a form of psychological assessment that emphasizes collaboration with
you and focuses on how to identify and remove barriers to positive change.
Brief History Of Psychological Testing
Types of tests
• Tests can be broadly grouped into two camps:
• Group tests are largely pencil-and-paper measures
suitable to the testing of large groups of persons at
the same time.
• Individual tests are instruments that by their
design and purpose must be administered one on
one. An important advantage of individual tests is
that the examiner can gauge the level of motivation
of the subject and assess the relevance of other
factors (e.g., impulsiveness or anxiety) on the test
results.
The Main Types of Psychological Tests
• Intelligence Tests: a person’s general potential to solve
problems, adapt to changing circumstances, think
abstractly, and profit from experience. Measure an
individual's ability in relatively global areas such as verbal
comprehension, perceptual organization, or reasoning and
thereby help determine potential for scholastic work or
certain occupations.
• Aptitude Tests: refers to the potential for learning or
acquiring a specific skill. Measure the capability for a
relatively specific task or type of skill; aptitude tests are, in
effect, a narrow form of ability testing.
• Achievement Tests: refers to previous learning. Measure a
person's degree of learning, success, or accomplishment in
a subject or task.
• Creativity Tests: Assess novel, original thinking and
the capacity to find unusual or unexpected solutions,
especially for vaguely defined problems.
• Personality Tests: Measure the traits, qualities, or
behaviors that determine a person's individuality; such
tests include checklists, inventories, and projective
techniques.
• Interest inventories: Measure an individual's
preference for certain activities or topics and thereby
help determine occupational choice.
• Neuropsychological Tests: Measure cognitive,
sensory, perceptual, and motor performance to
determine the extent, locus, and behavioral
consequences of brain damage.
Rationale for use of Psychological Tests
1. Help in decision making and problem solving.
2. Provide objective results that reduce possible
interviewer bias. Predictions are generally
accurate and usable.
3. Are cost effective and save time.
4. Useful in understanding and evaluation of
personality.
5. Easy method of gathering statistical information
for evaluation of an individual’s progress during
therapy or as an outcome measure.
FACTORS INFLUENCING THE SOUNDNESS
OF TESTING
• the manner of administration,
• the characteristics of the tester,
• the context of the testing,
• the motivation and experience of the examinee, and
• the method of scoring