1. Psychometric Properties and Principles

• Psychological Assessment


  Gathering and integration of psychology-related data for the purpose of making psychological evaluation. Answers a referral question.
• Psychological Testing


  Process of measuring psychology-related variables by means of devices or procedures designed to obtain a sample of behavior
• Characteristics of Psychological Testing

  • Numerical in nature
  • Individual or by group
  • Administrators can be interchangeable without affecting the evaluation
  • Requires technician-like skills in terms of administration and scoring
  • Yields a test score or series of test scores
  • Minutes to few hours
• Psychological Assessment


  • Answers referral question thru the use of different tools of evaluation
  • Individual
  • Assessor is the key to the process of selecting tests and/or other tools of evaluation
  • Requires an educated selection of tools of evaluation, skill in evaluation, and thoughtful organization and integration of data
  • Entails logical problem-solving that brings to bear many sources of data assigned to answer the referral question
• Types of Psychological Assessment

  • Educational: evaluate abilities and skills relevant in school context
  • Retrospective: draw conclusions about psychological aspects of a person as they existed at some point in time prior to the assessment
  • Remote: subject is not in physical proximity to the person conducting the evaluation
  • Ecological Momentary: "in the moment" evaluation of specific problems and related cognitive and behavioral variables at the very time and place that they occur
  • Collaborative: the assessor and assesee may work as "partners" from initial contact through final feedback
  • Therapeutic: therapeutic self-discovery and new understanding are encouraged
  • Dynamic: describe interactive approach to psychological assessment that usually follows the model: evaluation > intervention of some sort > evaluation
• Psychological Test


  Device or procedure designed to measure variables related to psychology
• Components of a Psychological Test

  • Content: subject matter
  • Format: form, plan, structure, arrangement, layout
  • Item: a specific stimulus to which a person responds overtly and this response is being scored or evaluated
  • Administration Procedures: one-to-one basis or group administration
  • Score: code or summary of statement, usually but not necessarily numerical in nature, but reflects an evaluation of performance on a test
  • Scoring: the process of assigning scores to performances
  • Cut-Score: reference point derived by judgement and used to divide a set of data into two or more classification
  • Psychometric Soundness: technical quality
  • Psychometrics: science of psychological measurement
  • Psychometrist or Psychometrician: refer to professional who uses, analyzes, and interprets psychological data
• Types of Psychological Tests

  • Ability or Maximal Performance Test
  • Typical Performance Test
  • Personality Test
  • Speed Tests
  • Power Tests
  • Values Inventory
  • Trade Test
  • Neuropsychological Test
  • Norm-Referenced test
  • Criterion-Referenced Tests
• Achievement Test


  • Measurement of the previous learning
  • Used to measure general knowledge in a specific period of time
  • Used to assess mastery
  • Rely mostly on content validity
  • Fact-based or conceptual
• Aptitude


  • Refers to the potential for learning or acquiring a specific skill
  • Tends to focus on informal learning
  • Rely mostly on predictive validity
• Intelligence


  Refers to a person's general potential to solve problems, adapt to changing environments, abstract thinking, and profit from experience
• Typical Performance Test


  • Measure usual or habitual thoughts, feelings, and behavior
  • Indicate how test takers think and act on a daily basis
  • Use interval scales
  • No right and wrong answers
• Types of Personality Tests

  • Structured Personality tests
  • Projective Personality Tests
  • Attitude Test
  • Interest Inventories
• Structured Personality tests


  Provide statement, usually self-report, and require the subject to choose between two or more alternative responses
• Projective Personality Tests


  Unstructured, and the stimulus or response are ambiguous
• Attitude Test


  Elicit personal beliefs and opinions
• Interest Inventories


  Measures likes and dislikes as well as one's personality orientation towards the world of work
• Other Assessment Tools

  • Interview
  • Portfolio
  • Case History Data
  • Behavioral Observation
  • Role Play
  • Computer
  • Physiological devices (biofeedback devices)
• Types of Interviews

  • Standardized/Structured
  • Non-standardized/Unstructured
  • Semi-Standardized/Focused
  • Non-Directive
• Examples of Interviews

  • Mental Status Examination
  • Intake Interview
  • Social Case
  • Employment Interview
  • Panel Interview (Board Interview)
  • Motivational Interview
• Case History Data


  Refers to records, transcripts, and other accounts in written, pictorial, or other form that preserve archival information, official and informal accounts, and other data and items relevant to an assessee
• Case study


  A report or illustrative account concerning a person or an event that was compiled on the basis of case history data
• Groupthink


  Result of the varied forces that drive decision-makers to reach a consensus
• Behavioral Observation


  Monitoring of actions of others or oneself by visual or electronic means while recording quantitative and/or qualitative information regarding those actions
• Naturalistic Observation


  Observe humans in natural setting
• SORC Model

  Stimulus, Organismic Valuables, Actual Response, Consequence
• Role Play


  Acting an improvised or partially improvised part in a stimulated situation
• Role Play Test


  Assesses are directed to act as if they are in a particular situation
• Psychological Assessment Process

  • Determining the Referral Question
  • Acquiring Knowledge relating to the content of the problem
  • Data collection
  • Data Interpretation
• Hit Rate


  Accurately predicts success or failure
• Profile


  Narrative description, graph, table. Or other representations of the extent to which a person has demonstrated certain targeted characteristics as a result of the administration or application of tools of assessment
• Actuarial Assessment


  An approach to evaluation characterized by the application of empirically demonstrated statistical rules as determining factor in assessors' judgement and actions
• Mechanical Prediction


  Application of computer algorithms together with statistical rules and probabilities to generate findings and recommendations
• Levels of Interpretation

  • Level I: minimal amount of any sort of interpretation
  • Level II: Descriptive Generalizations, Hypothetical Construct
  • Level III: Effort to develop a coherent and inclusive theory of the individual life or a "working image" of the patient
• Extra-Test Behavior


  Observations made by an examiner regarding what the examinee does and how the examinee reacts during the course of testing that are indirectly related to the test's specific content but of possible significance to interpretation
• Parties in Psychological Assessment

  • Test Author/Developer
  • Test Publishers
  • Test Reviewers
  • Test Users
  • Test Takers
  • Test Sponsors
  • Society
• Test Battery


  Selection of tests and assessment procedures typically composed of tests designed to measure different variables but having a common objective
• Assumptions about Psychological Testing and Assessment

  • Psychological Traits and States Exist
  • Psychological Traits and States can be Quantified and Measured
  • Test-Rlated Behavior Predicts Non-Test-Related Behavior
  • Test and Other Measurement Techniques have strengths and weaknesses
  • Various Sources of Error are part of the Assessment Process
  • Testing and Assessment can be conducted in a Fair and Unbiased Manner
  • Testing and Assessment Benefit Society
• Trait


  • Any distinguishable, relatively enduring way in which one individual varies from another
  • Permit people predict the present from the past
  • Characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that generalize across similar situations, differ systematically between individuals, and remain rather stable across time
• Psychological Trait


  Intelligence, specific intellectual abilities, cognitive style, adjustment, interests, attitudes, sexual orientation and preferences, psychopathology, etc.