PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT

• Psychological assessment


  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


  The process of measuring psychology-related variables by means of devices or procedures designed to obtain a sample of behavior
• The process of assessment


  1. Referral for assessment

  2. Assessor prepares by selecting assessment tools

  3. Formal assessment

  4. Assessor writes report
• Collaborative psychological assessment


  • Assessor and assessee work as "partners" from initial contact through final feedback
• Dynamic assessment


  • Interactive, changing, or varying nature of the assessment
• Test


  A measuring device or procedure
• Psychological test


  A device or procedure designed to measure variables related to psychology (e.g. intelligence, personality, aptitude, interests, attitudes, and values)
• Interviews


  • Interviewer takes note of verbal and nonverbal behavior, and how the interviewee is dressed
  • Interviewer can gain information beyond responses by being sensitive to voice pitch, pauses, and emotional responses
  • Interviews can be conducted face-to-face, by telephone, or electronically
• Portfolio


  Files of work products used as a tool of evaluation
• Case history data


  Records, transcripts, and other accounts that preserve information relevant to an assessee
• Behavioral observation


  Monitoring the actions of others or oneself by visual or electronic means while recording quantitative and/or qualitative information
• Naturalistic observation


  Observing behavior of humans in a natural setting
• Role-play test


  A tool of assessment where assessees are directed to act as if they were in a particular situation
• Computers as tools of assessment


  • Used for test administration, scoring, and interpretation
  • Computer assisted psychological assessment (CAPA)
  • Computer adaptive testing (CAT)
• Parties involved in assessment


  • Test developers and publishers
  • Test users
  • Testtakers
• Psychological autopsy


  Reconstruction of a deceased individual's psychological profile based on archival records, artifacts, and interviews
• Settings where assessments are conducted


  • Educational
  • Clinical
  • Counseling
  • Geriatric
  • Business and military
  • Governmental and organizational credentialing
• How assessments are conducted

  1. Ensuring suitable testing environment

  2. Establishing rapport with testtaker

  3. Safeguarding test protocols and conveying results
• Accommodation


  Adaptation of a test, procedure, or situation, or the substitution of one test for another, to make the assessment more suitable for an assessee with exceptional needs
• Alternate assessment


  Evaluative or diagnostic procedure that varies from the usual, customary, or standardized way a measurement is derived
• Authoritative information sources


  • Test catalogues
  • Test manuals
  • Reference volumes
  • Journal articles
  • Online databases
• Tests and testing programs first came into being in China

  2200 BCE
• Testing in ancient China was used to select government job applicants
• During the Song dynasty, emphasis was placed on knowledge of classical literature</b>
• On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin published


  1859
• Darwin's work on individual differences kindled interest in research on heredity by Francis Galton
• Galton pioneered the use of the coefficient of correlation
• Karl Pearson developed the product-moment correlation technique, which has roots in Galton's work
• Francis Galton


  Galton's half cousin, influential contributor to the field of measurement
• Galton's work


  • Aspired to classify people "according to their natural gifts" and to ascertain their "deviation from an average"
  • Devised or contributed to the development of many contemporary tools of psychological assessment including questionnaires, rating scales, and self-report inventories
• Coefficient of correlation


  Statistical concept central to psychological experimentation and testing, pioneered by Galton
• Karl Pearson developed the product-moment correlation technique, but its roots can be traced directly to the work of Galton
• Galton's interest turned to heredity in humans and various ways of measuring aspects of people and their abilities
• Variables measured at Galton's Anthropometric Laboratory


  • Height (standing), height (sitting), arm span, weight, breathing capacity, strength of pull, strength of squeeze, swiftness of blow, keenness of sight, memory of form, discrimination of color, and steadiness of hand
• Assessment was also an important activity at the first experimental psychology laboratory, founded at the University of Leipzig in Germany by Wilhelm Max Wundt
• Wundt's focus


  Formulate a general description of human abilities with respect to variables such as reaction time, perception, and attention span
• Individual differences were viewed by Wundt as a frustrating source of error in experimentation
• James McKeen Cattell


  One of Wundt's students at Leipzig, completed a doctoral dissertation that dealt with individual differences, specifically individual differences in reaction time
• Cattell coined the term "mental test" in an 1890 publication
• In 1921, Cattell was instrumental in founding the Psychological Corporation, which named 20 of the country's leading psychologists as its directors