Chapter 4: Of Testing and Assessment

• Psychological traits and states exist - It is the assumption 1 of Of Tests and Testing
• Trait - It is any distinguishable, relatively enduring way in which one individual varies from another.
• States - This also distinguish one person from one another but are relatively less enduring.
• Thousands of psychological trait terms can be found in the English language (Allport & Odbert, 1936). Among them are psychological traits that relate to intelligence, specific intellectual abilities, cognitive style, adjustment, interests, attitudes, sexual orientation and preferences, psychopathology, personality in general, and specific personality traits.
• A psychological trait exists only as a construct — an informed, scientific concept developed or constructed to describe or explain behavior. We can’t see, hear, or touch these, but we can infer their existence from overt behavior.
• True - The phrase relatively enduring in our definition of trait is a reminder that a trait is not expected to be manifested in behavior 100% of the time. (True or false)
• True - The stability of traits over time is evidenced by relatively high correlations between trait scores at different time points. (True or false)
• Psychological traits and states can be quantified and measured - It is the assumption 2 of Of Tests and Testing
• Thorndike (1918, p.16) famously declared, “Whatever exists at all exists in some amount. To know it thoroughly involves knowing its quantity as well as its quality.”
• The test score is presumed to represent the strength of the targeted ability or trait or state and is frequently based on cumulative scoring.

  Hint:

  1. In this fashion, a trait is measured by a series of test items. Each response to a test item is converted to a number according to a test “key” (e.g., correct = 1 and incorrect = 0).
  2. This assumes that the more the test taker responds in a particular fashion, the more the test taker exhibits the attribute being measured
• Test related behavior predicts non test related behavior - It is the assumption 3 of Of Tests and Testing
• All tests have limits and imperfections - It is the assumption 4 of Of Tests and Testing
• Various sources of error are part of the assessment process - It is the assumption 5 of Of Tests and Testing
• Error variance - Is the component of a test score attributable to sources other than the trait or ability measured.
• Unfair and biased assessment procedures can be identified and reformed - It is the assumption 6 of Of Tests and Testing
• Testing and assessment offer powerful benefits to society - It is the assumption 7 of Of Tests and Testing
• Psychometric soundness - Are the technical criteria that assessment professionals look or use to evaluate the quality of tests and other measurement procedures.
• Test users often speak of the psychometric soundness of tests, two key aspects of which are reliability and validity.
• True - A good test would include clear instructions for administration, scoring, and interpretation. It would also seem to be a plus if a test offered economy in the time and money it took to administer, score, and interpret it. Most of all, a good test would seem to be one that measures what it purports to measure. (True or false)
• Reliability - This involves the consistency of the measuring tool.
• Validity - Is called when the test measure what it purports to measure.
• True - A good test is one that trained examiners can administer, score, and interpret with a minimum of difficulty. A good test is a useful test, one that yields actionable results that will ultimately benefit individual test takers or society at large. (True or false)
• We may define norm referenced testing and assessment as a method of evaluation and a way of deriving meaning from test scores by evaluating an individual test taker’s score and comparing it to scores of a group of test takers.
• Norm - Refers to a behavior that is usual, average, normal, standard, expected, or typical.
• Reference to a particular variety of norm may be specified by means of modifiers such as age, as in the term age norm.
• Norms - Are the test performance data of a particular group of test takers that are designed for use as a reference when evaluating or interpreting individual test scores.
• A normative sample is that group of people whose performance on a particular test is analyzed for reference in evaluating the performance of individual test takers.
• Standardization - The process of administering a test to a representative sample of test takers for the purpose of establishing norms.
• If such sampling in a strata were random (or, if every member of the population had the same chance of being included in the sample), then the procedure would be termed stratified random sampling.
• If we arbitrarily select some sample because we believe it to be representative of the population, then we have selected what is referred to as a purposive sample.
• An incidental sample or convenience sample is one that is convenient or available for use.
• A percentile is an expression of the percentage of people whose score on a test or measure falls below a particular raw score.
• Age norms - A type of norm that indicates the average performance of different samples of test takers who were at various ages at the time the test was administered.
• Grade norms - Are designed to indicate the average test performance of test takers in a given school grade.
• National norms - A type of norm derived from a normative sample that was nationally representative of the population at the time the norming study was conducted.
• A normative sample can be segmented by any of the criteria initially used in selecting subjects for the sample. What results from such segmentation are more narrowly defined subgroup norms.
• Imagine you're taking a class test. Local norms would tell you how you did compared to your classmates, not everyone who took that test.
• Instead of comparing a student's score to everyone in the country, local norms compare them to their classmates, school, or district.
• Criterion referenced testing and assessment may be defined as a method of evaluation and a way of deriving meaning from test scores by evaluating an individual’s score with reference to a set standard.