Classification of Psychometric Testing and assessment PDF

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Notes for psychologogical testing about introduction, objective, purpose,establishment and types of test...

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Subject

Psychology

Paper No and Title

Paper 4: Applied Psychometrics

Module No and Title

Module 9: Psychological Tests and their Types

Module Tag

PSY_P4_M9

PSYCHOLOGY

PAPER 4: Applied Psychometrics MODULE 9: Psychological Tests and their Types

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Learning Outcomes 2. Introduction 3. Psychological Testing 4. Types of Psychological Tests 4.1 According to the Mode of Administration Individual and Group Tests 4.2 According to the Rate of Performance Speed and Power Tests 4.3 According to the Behavioral Dimension Measured Personality Tests Intelligence Tests Aptitude Tests Achievement Tests Creativity Tests Interest, Value and Attitude Tests 4.4 According to the Medium Used Paper-pencil and Performance Tests 4.5 According to the Nature of Items Verbal and Non-verbal Tests Objective-type and Essay-type Tests 4.6 According to the Mode of Interpretation Norm-referenced and Criterion-referenced Tests 4.7 According to the Mode of Scoring Self-scored and Expert-scored Tests Hand-scored and Machine-scored Tests 4.8 According to the Scope Culture-specific and Culture-free Tests 5. New Domains of Psychological Testing 5.1 Positive Testing and Virtual Testing 6. Summary

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PAPER 4: Applied Psychometrics MODULE 9: Psychological Tests and their Types

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1. Learning Outcomes After studying this module, you shall be able to: · · · · · · · ·

Know about psychological testing and define what a psychological test is. Classify various types of psychological tests. Learn how an individual test is different from a group test and a speed test is unlike a power test. Differentiate between personality, intelligence, aptitude, achievement and creativity tests. Explain how psychological tests are classified according to the nature of items and mode of scoring. Learn about norm-referenced and criterion-referenced test. Explain the relevance of culture-specific and culture-free tests. Know about the new ways of psychological testing in current times – Positive testing and Virtual testing

2. Introduction A Psychological test is a measuring tool or instrument designed to measure psychological attributes and variables. Psychological testing is a big business today that has superseded the ways of personal judgment, guess work and intuition to arrive at a conclusion based on facts, objectivity and free of personal biases. In this module, an overview of psychological testing is documented and psychological tests are classified using different criteria. A plethora of standardized and published psychological tests in the market shows that psychological tests can be classified in many ways. According to the mode of administration, psychological tests are of two types-Individual test and Group test. Speed and Power tests are the two types of psychological tests that differ according to the rate of performance. On the basis of behavioral dimensions measured, psychological tests are classified into personality, intelligence, aptitude, achievement and creativity tests. Personality tests measure a person’s individuality in terms of his unique traits; Intelligence tests measure global mental capacities of an individual; Aptitude tests gauge an individual’s capability of learning a specific task; Achievement tests evaluates a person’s past learning; Creativity tests measure a person’s ability to think novel ideas. Verbal, Non-verbal, Norm-referenced, Criterion-referenced, Culture-specific and Culture-free tests are various other types of psychological tests. Apart from this, psychometricians are now shifting their attention to the new domains of psychological testing. This includes positive testing and use of technology in testing. Positive testing aims to enrich human lives by focusing on topics like the quality-of-life, hope, happiness, compassion. Also, the current trend is dominated by the use of technology in testing and the World Wide Web has opened the scope of ‘virtual testing’.

3. Psychological Testing Psychological testing is a big business today. It has emerged as an important tool of objective psychometric assessment of psychological and social attributes. The science of psychological testing has always responded to the needs of a changing society in which man is changing faster, and his mind is increasingly becoming erratic and unpredictable. However, in all such scenarios and the precipitating global economic crisis, the need to tap human potential is at an all time high,

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PAPER 4: Applied Psychometrics MODULE 9: Psychological Tests and their Types

___________________________________________________________________________________ _________________ though social tolerance is at an all time low. Psychometricians have responded well to all these challenges and now there are specialized tests for every conceivable psychometric attribute to the acceptable levels of reliability and validity. The development and application of psychological tests is considered one of the major achievements of psychologists in the last century (Zimbardo, 2004). Defining formally, a psychological test is an objective procedure for sampling and quantifying human behavior to make an inference about a particular psychological construct using standardized stimuli, and methods of administration and scoring (Oxford University Press ANZ). Psychological tests are used across the globe for various purposes like counseling, selection, diagnosis, placement etc. Used in a variety of settings, the results of psychological tests are used to explain and predict the behaviors. Though Psychological tests enormously vary in their layouts and applications, most tests have some characteristic features.

4. Types of Psychological Tests A plethora of standardized and published psychological tests in the market shows that psychological tests can be classified in many ways. Typology of tests is a purely arbitrary determination (Gregory, 2004). However, using different criteria, psychological tests can be classified in the following manner (Figure1): Figure 1: Types of Psychological Tests According to the Mode of Administration

↗Individual Test ↘ Group Test

According to the Rate of Performance

↗ Speed Test ↘ Power Test

According to the Behavioral Dimension Measured

↗ Personality Tests → Intelligence ↘Aptitude → Achievement → Creativity → Interest Inventories → Value test → Attitude test

According to the Medium Used

According to the Nature of Test Items

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} } } Ability Tests } }

↗ Paper-Pencil Test ↘ Performance/Situational Test Verbal Test ↗

↗ Objective Type Test

PAPER 4: Applied Psychometrics MODULE 9: Psychological Tests and their Types

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↘ Non-Verbal Test According to the Mode of Interpretation

↗ Norm-Referenced Test ↘ Criterion Referenced Test

According to the Mode of scoring

Self-scored Test ↗ ↘Expert-scored Test

According to the Scope/ Applicability

↗Culture-specific Test ↘ Culture-free Test

↘ Essay Type Test

or

Hand Scored Test ↗ ↘ Machine Scored Test

4.1 Classification According to the Mode of Administration: According to the mode of administration, tests can be classified as individual test and group test. 4.1.1 Individual tests: Individual tests are administered to one person at a time and are useful for collecting comprehensive information about the testee. They are often used in clinical evaluations. The problems with individual tests are that they are costly, time consuming, and labor intensive. An example of individual tests is the Children’s Individual Test for Creativity. 4.1.2 Group tests: Groups tests are primarily designed for ‘ mass testing’, that is, they can be administered to more than one individual at a time. They are economical and time saving. For example- Army Alpha and Army Beta tests. 4.2 Classification According to the Rate of Performance: according to the rate of performance, psychological tests are classified as –speed test and power Test. 4.2.1 Speed Test: Speed tests are timed tests, that is, they examine the subject’s speed of responding within the stipulated period of time. Tests items in a speed test are of uniform difficulty but time limit is such that no examinee can attempt all the items (Chadha, 1996). A pure speed test is a test composed of easy items so that the subject responding never gives a wrong answer and his score is equal to number of questions attempted by him. Example of a speed test is the Clinical Speed and Accuracy Test. 4.2.2 Power Test: Power tests, on the other hand, offer enough time for the subject to attempt all the questions. In a Power test, the items are arranged according to their increasing order of difficulty and certain items are such that they are too difficult for anyone to solve. Thus, in a Power tests are designed to gauge the knowledge of the test-taker. A score on the power test depends entirely upon the numbers of items answered and answered correctly. Raven’s Progressive Matrices (Raven & Court, 1998) is an example of power test. 4.3 According to the Behavioral Attribute Measured: According to the behavioral attributes assessed, tests can be classified into personality tests, ability (intelligence, aptitude, achievement and creativity) tests and tests of attitudes, values and interests.

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PAPER 4: Applied Psychometrics MODULE 9: Psychological Tests and their Types

___________________________________________________________________________________ _________________ 4.3.1 Personality Test: These tests are designed to measure a person’s individuality in terms of his unique traits and behavior. These tests help in predicting an individuals’future behavior. They come in several varieties like checklists, inventories and subject evaluation techniques, inkblot and sentence completion tests. Personality tests can broadly be classified further into two categories –structured personality tests and unstructured personality tests. Structured Personality Tests are based on the premise that there are common dimensions across all personalities which can be measured with the help of a psychological test in an objective manner. In such tests, responses are already defined and the testee has only to choose one of the options in the form of his responses. Tests coming in this category are 16PF, MMPI, Maudsley Personality Inventory (MPI), and so on. Unstructured Personality Tests, on the other hand, believe in idiosyncratic individual specific needs, which are discovered and measured by analyzing the responses given by the testee on the presentation of ambiguous stimuli. These tests are based on the rationale that a test-taker reacts to a vague or an ambiguous stimulus by projecting own feelings, thoughts, experiences and memories. The responses given by the client indicate different facets of the personality dimensions. Examples of unstructured personality tests are projective tests like Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), Rorschach Inkblot Test etc. 4.3.2 Ability Test: Ability tests assess the qualities that enable an individual to do specific tasks at a specified time. These tests measure a broad assortment of skills in order to estimate the individual’s general intellectual, learning, success or accomplishment level. Ability tests are classified into intelligence test, aptitude test, achievement test and creativity test.

Intelligence Test: Intelligence refers to the global mental capacities of an individual, and tests of intelligence essentially measure rational and abstract thinking of an individual. They are designed to measure the global mental capacities of an individual in terms of verbal comprehension, perceptual organization, reasoning etc. The purpose is usually to determine the subject’s suitability for some occupation or scholastic work. Example of the most commonly used Intelligence test is Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). Aptitude Test: Aptitude refers to an individual’s potential to learn a specified task under provision of training. Aptitude tests are designed to measure the subject’s capability of learning specific task or acquiring specific skill. SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test), Seashore Measure of Musical Talent, Guilford and Zimmerman Aptitude Survey, General Aptitude Test Battery etc are some examples of aptitude test.

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PAPER 4: Applied Psychometrics MODULE 9: Psychological Tests and their Types

___________________________________________________________________________________ _________________ Achievement Test: Achievement refers to a person’s past learning, and achievement tests are designed to measure a person’s past learning on accomplishment in a task. Stanford Achievement Test by Gardner and Madden (1969) is an example of Achievement test. The distinction between aptitude and achievement test is more a matter of use than content (Gregory 1994). In fact, any test can be an aptitude test to the extent it helps in predicting the future performance. Likewise, any test can be an achievement test to the extent it measures past learning. Creativity Test: Creativity refers to a person’s ability to think new ideas and creativity tests are designed to measure a person’s ability to produce new and original ideas, and the capacity to find unexpected solutions to vaguely defined problems. Examples of creativity tests are Torrance Test of Creative Thinking by E. Paul Torrance (1966) and Creativity Self Report by Feldhusen (1965). 4.3.3 Apart from this, based on the behavioral dimension measured, tests can again be classified into tests of attitude, values and interests. Attitude refers to our evaluation about various aspects of the world and tests of attitude measure a person’s tendency to evaluate – favorably or unfavorably – a class of events, objects or persons. Examples of attitude tests are Criminal Attitude Scale (CATS) (Taylor 1968); Attitude towards Retarded (Efron and Efron 1967). Values, on the other hand, are normative frameworks related to individual/group behavior or expectations. Examples of value tests are Allport, Vernon and Lindzey’s Test of Values. Tests of Interests show a person’s preference or interest towards a class of things or objects, for example Campbell’s Interest and Skill Survey (CISS, 1995). 4.4 According to the Medium Used: According to the medium used, tests can be classified as Paper-and-pencil tests and Situational tests. 4.4.1 Paper-and-pencil tests require students to read or write independently or to demonstrate the understanding of concepts at a symbolic level. Items of a paper-and-pencil test can be objective type, short answer type or extended answer type. The drawbacks of the paper-and-pencil tests are that they suffer from artificially, that is, they do not test a person by putting him/her in actual situation. 4.4.2 Situational tests, on the other hand, test a person by putting the candidate in the actual or highly real life simulated conditions. 4.5 According to the Nature of Test Items: Based on the nature of the test items, tests can be classified into verbal and non-verbal tests. 4.5.1 Verbal tests are the tests in which responses of the testee are recorded in the verbal format and the emphasis is on reading, writing and oral expression. Examples of verbal tests are Jalota Group General Intelligence. 4.5.2 Non-Verbal tests are those which emphasize but do not altogether eliminate the role of language by using symbolic materials like pictures, figures, and so on. Such tests use the language in instructions but in items they do not use language. Raven’s Progressive Matrices is a good example of a non-verbal test.

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PAPER 4: Applied Psychometrics MODULE 9: Psychological Tests and their Types

___________________________________________________________________________________ _________________ There is another classification according to the nature of test items, where tests can be classified into Objective type tests in which the responses are of multiple choice types, and Essay type tests in which the responses are of long answer type. 4.6 Based on the Mode of Interpretation: Based on the mode of interpretation, tests can be classified into Norm Referenced Tests and Criterion Referenced Tests. 4.6.1 Norm Referenced Test: Norms are statistical average score of representative populations, with which the relative standing of the testee can be compared. A Norm-Reference Test compares an individual’s results on the test with the statistically representative sample. In practice, rather than testing a population, a representative sample or a group is tested. This provides a group norm or a set of norms. One representation of norms is the Bell Curve (also called ‘ normal curve’). Norms are available for standardized psychological tests, allowing for an understanding of how an individual’s scores compare with the group norms. Examples of Norm Referenced Test are MMPI and GRE. 4.6.2 Criterion Referenced Test: Criterion refers to the measure of performance that we expect to correlate with test scores. So, in case of Criterion Referenced Tests, the testee’s score is compared with an objectively stated standard of performance on that test. 4.7 According to the Mode of Scoring: According to the mode of scoring, tests can be classified into self-scored versus expert scored or hand scored versus machine scored tests. 4.7.1 In Self-scored tests, the testee himself/herself can score his responses with the help of a scoring key, while in the case of Expert-scored tests, the test responses are scored by an expert person (generally the test administrator). 4.7.2 Hand-scored tests are the tests that are scored manually while Machine-scored tests are the tests that are scored with the help of a machine (computer aided); for example, the Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheet responses used for various educational and mass assessment. 4.8 According to the Scope A very important but debatable classification based on the scope of the tests is that they can be classified into culture-specific and culture-free tests. 4.8.1 Culture-specific Tests: These types of test are designed for a specific population and show biased results for a specific group, culture, and population due to cultural influence. A particular population influenced by cultural elements display either low or high scores relative to the test norms. 4.8.2 Culture-free Test: Culture-free tests, in contrast, are those that are relatively free of specific cultural influences of the test designer and administrator. Items are designed to measure innate abilities not affected by culture. Example: Maze tests and Block design tests. However, it is to be noted that all the tests, at least to some extent, are culture-specific and it is very difficult to find a test which is totally culture-free. According to Anastasi & Urbina, 1997:

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PAPER 4: Applied Psychometrics MODULE 9: Psychological Tests and their Types

___________________________________________________________________________________ _________________ It is unlikely, moreover, that any test can be equally ‘fair’ to more than one cultural group, especially if the cultures are quite dissimilar. While reducing cultural differentials in test performance, cross-cultural tests cannot completely eliminate such differentials. Every test tends to favor persons from the culture in which it was developed.

5. New Domains...