Psychological Testing and Assessment

• The roots of contemporary psychological testing and assessment can be found in early twentieth century

  France
• In 1905, Alfred Binet and a colleague published a test designed to help place Paris schoolchildren in appropriate classes
• The first society-wide application of psychological

  testing resulted from an attempt by Parisian educators and lawmakers to live up to the ideals inscribed on public buildings all over France
• France became one of the first countries to mandate free public education for all its children.
• French educational administrators wanted an efficient, accurate, and fair method of deciding which children were best served by learning in separate, special classes with slower, more intensive instruction. The Minister of Public Instruction commissioned a study of the matter, and the committee asked Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon to create a test that would help school personnel make placement decisions
• Binet and Simon created a series of tests designed to forecast which students would likely fall ever further behind their peers without additional support
• Intelligence test by Binet cant measure intelligence in its totality since it was solely for the purpose of identifying intellectually disabled children who needed additional help
• Binet's test was also used in the US army during war to test recruits for service. variables tested were intellectual and emotional problems, personality, brain functioning, performance at work, and many other aspects of psychological and social functioning
• William Stern, who developed a refined method of scoring Binet’s test—the Intelligence Quotient (IQ)—was horrified when Binet’s tests were later used by many institutions as tools of oppression rather than for their original purpose of liberation.
• “Testing” was the term used to refer to everything from the administration of a test the interpretation of a test score
• In contrast to testing, assessment acknowledges that tests are only one type of tool used by professional assessors

  (along with other tools, such as the interview), and that the value of a test, or of any other tool of assessment, is intimately linked to the knowledge, skill, and experience of the assessor
• psychological assessment as the gathering and integration of psychology-related data for the purpose of making a psychological evaluation that is accomplished through the use of tools such as tests, interviews, case studies, behavioral observation, and specially designed apparatuses and measurement procedures
• psychological testing as the process of measuring

  psychology-related variables by means of devices or procedures designed to obtain a sample of behavior
• 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. example: intelligence test, achievement test, reading comprehension test
• Psychological testing's objective is to obtain some gauge, usually numerical in nature, with regard to an ability or attribute while psychological assessment's objective is to answer a referral question, solve a problem, or arrive at a

  decision through the use of tools of evaluation
• psychological testing's process is testing may be conducted individually or in groups. After test administration, the tester adds up the number correct answers or the number of certain types of responses with little if any regard for the how or mechanics of such content while psychological assessment is individualized. In contrast to testing, assessment focuses on how an individual processes rather than simply the results of that processing
• psychological assessment's process is individualized. In contrast to testing, assessment focuses on how an individual processes rather than simply the results of that processing
• the role of evaluator in psychological testing is not that crucial. one tester may be substituted for another tester without appreciably affecting the evaluation.
• in psychological assessment, the assessor is key to the process of selecting tests and/or other tools of evaluation as well as in drawing conclusions from the entire evaluation.
• in psychological testing, testing requires technician-like skills in administering and scoring a test as well as in interpreting

  a test result.
• in psychological assessment, assessment requires an educated selection of tools of evaluation, skill in evaluation, and thoughtful organization and integration of data
• the outcome of the psychological testing is a test score or series of test scores
• the outcome of the psychological assessment is a logical problem-solving approach that brings to bear many sources of data designed to shed light on a referral question
• retrospective assessment is 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) is the “in the moment” evaluation of specific problems and related cognitive and behavioral variables at the exact time and place that they occur.
• process of assessment:

  1. referral for assessment from a source
  2. The assessor may meet with the assessee or others before the formal assessment in order to clarify aspects of the reason for referral
  3. The assessor prepares for the assessment by selecting the tools of assessment to be used
  4. tool selection process is informed by some research in preparation for the assessment.
  5. formal assessment will begin
  6. assessor writes a report of the findings that is designed to answer referral question
• in collaborative psychological assessment, assessors view the process of assessment as more of a collaboration between the assessor and the assessee. both may work as “partners” from initial contact through final feedback
• therapeutic psychological assessment is one variety of collaborative assessment includes an element of therapy as part of the process
• therapeutic psychological assessment aims to be helpful throughout the assessment process. The results are not revealed at the end, but shared immediately so that both the assessor and the assessee can co-develop an interpretation of the results and decide what questions require further assessment. In this way, therapeutic self-discovery and new understandings are encouraged throughout the assessment process.
• dynamic assessment refers to an interactive approach to psychological assessment that usually follows a model of (1) evaluation, (2) intervention of some sort, and (3) evaluation
• Dynamic assessment is most typically employed in educational settings, although it may be employed in correctional, corporate, neuropsychological, clinical, and most any other setting as well
• in dynamic assessment, an assessor may intervene in the course of an evaluation of an assessee’s abilities with increasingly more explicit feedback or hints
• In essence, dynamic assessment provides a means for evaluating how the assessee processes or benefits from some type of intervention (feedback, hints, instruction, therapy, and so forth) during the course of evaluation
• test is defined simply as a measuring device or procedure
• psychological test refers to a device or procedure designed to measure variables related to psychology (such as intelligence, personality, aptitude, interests, attitudes, or values).
• psychological testing is the process of measuring psychology-related variables by means of devices or procedures designed to obtain a sample of behavior
• Psychological tests and other tools of assessment may differ with respect to a number of variables, such as content, format, administration procedures, scoring and interpretation procedures, and technical quality
• The content (subject matter) of the test will, of course, vary with the focus of the particular test and based on the theoretical orientation of different test developers
• format pertains to the form, plan, structure, arrangement, and layout of test items as well as to related considerations such as time limits. Format is also used to refer to the form in which a test is administered: computerized, pencil-andpaper, or some other form.