PSYCH ASSESSMENT_1

• aptitude -Potential for learning or acquiring a specific skill

  (for example, musical aptitude).
• Age scale - A test in which items are grouped according to

  age level. (The Binet scale, for example, grouped into one

  age level items that twothirds to three-quarters of a

  representative group of children at a specific age could

  successfully pass.)
• Age differentiation - Discrimination based on the fact that older

  children have greater capabilities than do younger

  children.
• Acquiescence - The tendency to agree or to endorse a test item

  as true.
• Discriminant Evidence - Evidence obtained to demonstrate that a test

  measures something different from what other available

  tests measure. A form of construct validity evidence.
• Discriminant Analysis - A multivariate data analysis method for finding

  the linear combination of variables that best describes the

  classification of groups into discrete categories.
• Nominal Scale - Systems that arbitrarily assign numbers to

  objects. Mathematical manipulation of numbers from a

  nominal scale is not justified.
• Multivariate Analysis - A set of methods for data analysis that considers the relationships between combinations of three or more

  variables.
• Multivariate Regression - A multivariate data analysis method that

  considers the relationship between a continuous outcome

  variable and the linear combination of two or more

  predictor variables.
• Median - The point on a frequency distribution marking

  the 50th percentile.
• Mean - The arithmetic average score in a distribution
• Variance - The average squared deviation around the mean;

  the standard deviation squared.
• Taylor Russell Tables - A series of tables one can use to evaluate the

  validity of a test in relation to the amount of information it

  contributes beyond what would be known by chance.
• test -A measurement device or technique that

  quantifies behavior or aids in its understanding and

  prediction.
• Test Administration - the act of giving a test
• Test administrator - the person giving a test
• test anxiety - anxiety that occurs in test taking situations
• test batteries - two or more test used in conjunction to appraise an individual
• third variable - a variable that may account for the observed relationship between two other variables.
• Traits - Enduring or persistent characteristics of an

  individual that are independent of situations.
• T-score - On the MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory), a standard score with a mean of

  50 and a standard deviation of 10.
• Two-tailed test - A non-directional test of the null hypothesis. In

  contrast to a one-tailed test which states a specific

  direction. It is used to evaluate whether

  observations are significantly different from chance in

  either the upper or lower end of the sampling

  distribution.
• Validity - It refers to the meaning and usefulness of test

  results, or the degree to which a certain inference or

  interpretation based on a test is appropriate.
• Correlation for attenuation - Correction of the reduction, caused by low reliability, in the estimated correlation between a test and

  another measure. It's formula is used to estimate what the correlation would have been if the variables had been perfectly reliable.
• convergent evidence - Evidence obtained to demonstrate that a test

  measures the same attribute as do other measures that

  purport to measure the same thing. A form of construct

  validity evidence.
• Content validity evidence - The evidence that the content of a test

  represents the conceptual domain it is designed to cover
• Construct Validity Evidence - A process used to establish the meaning of a test through a series of studies. To evaluate evidence for

  construct validity, a researcher simultaneously defines

  some construct and develops the instrumentation to

  measure it. In the studies, observed correlations between

  the test and other measures provide evidence for the

  meaning of the test. See also convergent evidence and

  discriminant evidence.
• Interval Scale - A scale that one can use to rank order objects or

  individuals. It has the properties of magnitude and equal

  intervals but not absolute zero.
• Interquartile range - The interval of scores bounded by the 25th and

  the 75th percentiles.
• Intercept - On a two-dimensional graph, the point on the Y

  axis where X equals 0. In regression, this is the point at

  which the regression line intersects the Y axis.
• Inferential Statistics - Methods used to make inferences from

  observations of a small group of people, called a sample.

  These inferences are then used to estimate the

  characteristics of a larger group of individuals, known as a

  population.
• Inferences - Logical deductions (from evidence) about

  something that one cannot observe directly.
• Personality Test - Tests that measure overt and covert dispositions

  of individuals (the tendency that individuals will show a

  particular behavior or response in any given situation).
• Polytomous Format - A format for objective tests in which three or

  more alternative responses are given for each item. This

  format is popular for multiple-choice exams. Also called

  polychotomous format.
• Predictive Validity Evidence - The evidence that a test forecasts scores on the criterion at some future time.
• Projective Hypothesis - The proposal that when a person attempts to

  understand an ambiguous or vague stimulus, his or her

  interpretation reflects needs, feelings, experiences, prior

  conditioning, thought processes, and so forth.
• Projective Personality Test - Tests in which the stimulus or the required

  response or both are ambiguous. The general idea behind

  projective tests is that a person’s interpretation of an

  ambiguous stimulus reflects his or her unique

  characteristics.
• Spearman's Rho - A method for finding the correlation between

  two sets of ranks.
• Standard Deviation - The square root of the average squared

  deviation around the mean (or the variance). It is used as

  a measure of variability in a distribution of scores.
• Standard error of estimate - An index of the accuracy of a regression

  equation. It is equivalent to the standard deviation of the

  residuals from a regression analysis. Prediction is most

  accurate when the standard error of estimate is small.