Psych Assessment

• Testing


  The objective is typically to obtain some gauge, usually numerical in nature, with regard to an ability or attribute
• Advantages of Internet Testing
• Technical Quality or Psychometric Soundness


  The science of psychological measurement. The psychometric soundness of a test depends on how consistently and accurately the test measures what it purports to measure
• Psychological Test


  A device or procedure designed to measure variables related to psychology (e.g. intelligence, attitudes, personality, interests, etc.)
• Therapeutic Psychological Assessment


  Therapeutic self-discovery is encouraged through the assessment process
• Cut Score


  A reference point, usually numerical, used to divide data into two or more classifications (e.g. pass or fail)
• Collaborative Psychological Assessment


  The assessor and assessee work as partners
• Tools of Psychological Assessment

  • Psychological test
  • Interview
  • Portfolio
  • Case history data
  • Behavioral observation
  • Role-play tests
  • Computers as tools
• Other tools of Psychological Assessment

  • Portfolio
  • Case history data
  • Behavioral observation
  • Role-play tests
  • Computers as tools
• Assessment

  Gathering and integration of psychology-related data for the purpose of making a psychological evaluation through tools such as tests, interviews, case studies, behavioral observation, and other methods
• Psychological Tests

  • Vary by content, format, administration, scoring, interpretation, and technical quality
• Dynamic Assessment


  Typically employed in educational settings but also may be used in correctional, corporate, neuropsychological, clinical, and other settings
• Assessment


  The objective is typically to answer a referral question, solve a problem, or arrive at a decision through the tools of evaluation
• Interview


  A method of gathering information through direct communication involving reciprocal exchange
• Parties involved in Psychological Assessment

  • Test developer
  • Test user
  • Test-taker
• Tests are used by a wide range of professionals
• Laws and court decisions


  May play a major role in test development, administration, and interpretation
• Anyone who is the subject of an assessment or evaluation is a test-taker
• Accommodations need to be made for assesses with exceptional needs
• Test developers


  • Create tests to meet the needs of an evolving society
• The standards contain guidelines for who should be administering psychological tests but many countries have no ethical or legal guidelines for test use
• Wilhelm Wundt started the first experimental psychology laboratory in Germany and measured variables such as reaction time, perception, and attention span
• Settings where assessments are conducted

  • Educational settings
  • Clinical settings
  • Counseling settings
  • Geriatric settings
  • Business & military settings
  • Government and organizational credentialing
• Historical perspective: The first systematic tests were developed in China as early as 2200 B.C.E. for selecting people for government jobs
• Sources for information on tests

  • Test catalogues
  • Test manuals
  • Reference volumes
  • Journal articles
  • Online databases
  • American Psychological Association databases
  • Other sources
• The law mandates "alternate assessment" for people with disabilities
• Variables test-takers may differ on

  • Test anxiety
  • Emotional state
• Other parties involved in test development

  • Organizations
  • Companies
  • Governmental agencies
• How assessments are conducted

  1. There are many different methods used

  2. Ethical testers have responsibility before, during, and after testing

  3. Obligations include familiarity with test materials and procedures, ensuring suitable testing environment, establishing rapport during test administration
• Wilhelm Wundt started the first experimental psychology laboratory in Germany
• 1905


  Binet and Simon developed the first intelligence test to identify mentally retarded Paris schoolchildren
• Individual differences

  led Francis Galton to devise measures for psychological variables
• The twentieth century brought the first tests of abilities such as intelligence
• After World War II, psychologists increasingly used tests in large corporations and private organizations
• Projective tests, such as the Rorschach Inkblot Test, are tests in which an individual is assumed to "project" onto some ambiguous stimulus his or her own unique needs, fears, hopes, and motivation
• Some meaning and nuance may be lost in translation
• Some respondents are unwilling to reveal anything about themselves that is very personal or paints them in a negative light
• In vocational assessment, test users are sensitive to legal and ethical mandates concerning the use of tests with regard to hiring, firing, and related decision making
• Professionals in assessment have shown a growing sensitivity to cultural issues with every aspect of test development and use
• The Woodworth Psychoneurotic Inventory was the first widely used self-report personality test