Psychological Assessment, Book by Kaplan (Notes) PDF

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|Kaplan & Sacuzzo | PLUUUUS ULTRAAAAAAAAAAAAAABRIEF CONTENTSPART I: PRINCIPLES Introduction 1 Norms and Basic Statistics for Testing 3 Correlation and Regression 4 Reliability 5 Validity 7 Writing and Evaluating Test Items 8 Test Administration 10 PART II: APPLICATIONS Interviewing Technique...

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PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING: Principles, Applications, & Issues 8th Edition |Kaplan & Sacuzzo |

NOTES & REVIEW PURPOSES PLUUUUS ULTRAAAAAAAAAAAAAA PART I: PRINCIPLES: C1 Introduction

BRIEF CONTENTS

Basic Concepts

PART I: PRINCIPLES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Introduction Norms and Basic Statistics for Testing Correlation and Regression Reliability Validity Writing and Evaluating Test Items Test Administration

1 3 4 5 7 8 10

PART II: APPLICATIONS 8. Interviewing Techniques 9. Theories of Intelligence and the Binet Scales 10. The Wechsler Intelligence Scales: WAIS-IV, WISC-IV, and WPPSI-III 25511 11. Other Individual Tests of Ability in Education and Special Education 12. Standardized Tests in Education, Civil Service, and the Military 13. Applications in Clinical and Counseling Settings 14. Projective Personality Tests 15. Computers and Basic Psychological Science in Testing 16. Testing in Counseling Psychology 17. Testing in Health Psychology and Health Care 18. Testing in Industrial and Business Settings

Item: a specific stimulus to which a person responds overtly. Psychological Test: (educational test) is a set of items that are designed to measure characteristics of human beings that pertain to behavior. Overt behavior is an individual’s observable activity. Covert behavior takes place within an individual and cannot be directly observed.

11 12 14

Scales: relate raw scores on test items to some defined theoretical or empirical distribution.

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Individual tests: examiner or test administrator (the person giving the test) gives the test to only one person at a time Group tests: administered to more than one person at a time by a single examiner,

17 18 20 21 21 22 22

PART III ISSUES (Summaries only) 19. Test Bias 23 20. Testing and the Law 23 21. Ethics and the Future of Psychological Testing 23 *Part III are mostly U.S based ek ek.

Test: is a measurement device or technique used to quantify behavior or aid in the understanding and prediction of behavior.

Types of Tests

Ability tests: contain items that can be scored in terms of speed, accuracy, or both.  Achievement tests: refers to tests measuring previous learning.  Aptitude tests: refers to a tests measuring the potential for learning or acquiring a specific skill.  Intelligence tests: refers to a test measuring a person’s general potential to solve problems, adapt to changing circumstances, think abstractly, and profit from experience. Personality tests: are tests related to the overt and covert dispositions of the individual.  Structured personality tests: provide a statement, usually of the “self-report” variety, and require the subject to choose between two or more alternative responses.  Projective personality tests: Provides an ambiguous test stimulus; response requirements are unclear

Psychological testing: refers to all the possible uses, applications, and underlying concepts of psychological and educational tests. The main use of these tests, though, is to evaluate individual differences or variations among individuals. Reliability: refers to the accuracy, dependability, consistency, or repeatability of test results. Validity: refers to the meaning and usefulness of test results Test administration: the act of giving a test Interview: is a method of gathering information through verbal interaction, such as direct questions. Historical Perspective China  Had a relatively sophisticated civil service testing program more than 4000 years ago (DuBois,1970, 1972).  Han Dynasty (206 B.C.E. to 220 C.E.), the use of test batteries was quite common. These early tests related to such diverse topics as civil law, military affairs, agriculture, revenue, and geography.  Ming Dynasty (1368–1644 C.E.). A national multistage testing program involved local and regional testing centers equipped with special testing booths. Charles Darwin  The Origin of Species, in 1859.  Higher forms of life evolved partially because of differences among individual forms of life within a species; the best most adaptive characteristics survive at the expense of those who less fit and that the survivors pass their characteristics on to the next generation.  life has evolved to its currently complex and intelligent levels.

Sir Francis Galton  That some people possessed characteristics that made them more fit than others; Hereditary Genius, 1869.

 that individual differences exist in human sensory and motor functioning, such as reaction time, visual acuity, and physical strength.

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PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING: Principles, Applications, & Issues 8th Edition |Kaplan & Sacuzzo | World War I

James McKeen Cattell  coined the term mental test  based on Galton’s work on individual differences in reaction time.  perpetuated and stimulated the forces that ultimately led to the development of modern tests. J. E. Herbart: mathematical models of themind E. H. Weber: attempted to demonstrate the existence of a psychological threshold, the minimum stimulus necessary to activate a sensory system. G. T. Fechner: devised the law that the strength of a sensation grows as the logarithm of the stimulus intensity Wilhelm Wundt: set up a laboratory at the University of Leipzig in 1879 and is credited with founding the science of psychology Wundt was succeeded by E. B. Titchner, whose student, G. Whipple, recruited L. L. Thurstone. Whipple: provided the basis for immense changes in the field of testing by conducting a seminar at the Carnegie Institute in 1919 Thus, psychological testing developed from at least two lines of inquiry: one based on the work of Darwin, Galton, and Cattell on the measurement of individual differences, and the other (more theoretically relevant and probably stronger) based on the work of the German psychophysicists Herbart, Weber, Fechner, and Wundt. Experimental psychology developed from the second line of inquiry. The Evolution of Achievement Tests

Intelligence

and

Standardized

Binet-Simon Scale  1905 contained 30 items of increasing difficulty and was designed to identify intellectually subnormal individuals  1908 Binet-Simon Scale also determined a child’s mental age  1916, L. M. Terman of Stanford University revision

 Military Recruitment  Large scale group testing  Robert Yerkes: headed a committee of distinguished psychologists who soon developed two structured group tests of human abilities: the Army Alpha (reading ability) and the Army Beta (measured the intelligence of illiterate adults). Achievement Tests  In contrast to essay tests, standardized achievement tests provide multiple-choice questions that are standardized on a large sample to produce norms against which the results of new examinees can be compared.  the relative ease of administration and scoring and the lack of subjectivity or favoritism that can occur in essay or other written tests.  1923, Stanford Achievement Test by T. L. Kelley, G. M. Ruch, and L. M. Terman  1930s, it was widely held that the objectivity and reliability of these standardized tests made them superior to essay tests.

Personality Tests Traits: relatively enduring dispositions (tendencies to act, think, or feel in a certain manner in any given circumstance) that distinguish one individual from another.

NOTES & REVIEW PURPOSES PLUUUUS ULTRAAAAAAAAAAAAAA The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI): A structured personality test that made no assumptions about the meaning of a test response. Such meaning was to be determined by empirical research. Factor analysis: a method of finding the minimum number of dimensions (characteristics, attributes), called factors, to account for a large number of variables. J. R Guilford: made the first serious attempt to use factor analytic techniques in the development of a structured personality test. The California Psychological Inventory (CPI): A structured personality test developed according to the same principles as the MMPI. The Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF): A structured personality test based on the statistical procedure of factor analysis; R. B. Cattell

During the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s several major branches of applied psychology emerged and flourished: neuropsychology, health psychology, forensic psychology, and child psychology. Because each of these important areas of psychology makes extensive use of psychological tests, psychological testing again grew in status and use.

Woodworth Personal Data Sheet: An early structured personality test that assumed that a test response can be taken at face value; was developed during World War I and was published in final form just after the war The Rorschach Inkblot Test: A highly controversial projective test that provided an ambiguous stimulus (an inkblot) and asked the subject what it might be. The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): A projective test that provided ambiguous pictures and asked subjects to make up a story; by Henry Murray and Christina Morgan in 1935.

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PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING: Principles, Applications, & Issues 8th Edition |Kaplan & Sacuzzo |

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PART I: PRINCIPLES: C2: Norms and Basic Statistics for Testing Why we need Statistics? 1. Statistics are used for purposes of description. Numbers provide convenient summaries and allow us to evaluate some observations relative to others. 2. We can use statistics to make inferences, which are logical deductions about events that cannot be observed directly. Descriptive statistics: methods used to provide a concise description of a collection of quantitative information. Inferential statistics: methods used to make inferences from observations of a small group of people (sample) to a larger group of individuals (population).

MEASUREMENT: assigning numbers to objects. Properties of Scale 1. Magnitude  The property of “moreness.”  Particular instance of the attribute represents more, less, or equal amounts of the given quantity than does another instance. Ex: Height : taller, shorter 2. Equal Intervals  The difference between two points at any place on the scale has the same meaning as the difference between two other points that differ by the same number of scale units. Ex: Ruler: Inches  A psychological test rarely has the property of equal intervals. (Ex: IQ levels & their meanings per level)  The relationship between the measured units and some outcome can be described by a straight line or a linear equation in the form Y = a + bX. 3. Absolute Zero  Obtained when nothing of the property being measured exists. Ex: dead heart rate  For many psychological qualities, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to define an absolute 0 point. Ex: Measuring and defining “0” shyness from a scale of 0 to 10

Percentile rank

PROPERTY TYPE OF SCALE

Magnitude

Equal Interval

Absolute 0

No Yes Yes Yes

No No Yes Yes

No No No Yes

Nominal Ordinal Interval Ratio Types of Scales

Nominal scales:  are really not scales at all; their only purpose is to name objects  used when the information is qualitative rather than quantitative.  Social science researchers commonly label groups in sample surveys with numbers (such as 1 = African American, 2 = white, and 3 = Mexican American) Ordinal scale:  with the property of magnitude but not equal intervals or an absolute 0  rank individuals or objects but not to say anything about the meaning of the differences between the ranks.  Height; IQ; Interval scale:  has the properties of magnitude and equal intervals but not absolute 0  the measurement of temperature in degrees Fahrenheit. Ratio scale  has all three properties (magnitude, equal intervals, and an absolute 0)  speed of travel, 0 miles per hour (mph) Frequency distribution displays scores on a variable or a measure to reflect how frequently each value was obtained; defines all the possible scores and determines how many people obtained each of those scores.

 “What percent of the scores fall below a particular score (Xi)?”  To calculate a percentile rank, you need only follow these simple steps: (1) determine how many cases fall below the score of interest, (2) determine how many cases are in the group, (3) divide the number of cases below the score of interest (Step 1) by the total number of cases in the group (Step 2), and (4) multiply the result of Step 3 by 100. The formula is ( Pr =B/ N × 100 ) Percentiles  specific scores or points within a distribution.  divide the total frequency for a set of observations into hundredths.  indicate the particular score, below which a defined percentage of scores falls. Mean  arithmetic average score in a distribution  total the scores and divide the sum by the number of cases  sigma (S) means summation Variance: averaged squared deviation around the mean Standard deviation  approximate of the average deviation around the mean.  the square root of the average squared deviation around the mean. Z score  is the difference between a score and the mean, divided by the standard deviation  transforms data into standardized units that are easier to interpret. Normal distribution**  known as distribution.

a

symmetrical

binomial

probability

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PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING: Principles, Applications, & Issues 8th Edition |Kaplan & Sacuzzo | McCall’s T  the mean is 50 rather than 0 and the standard deviation is 10 rather than 1  T = 10Z + 50 Quartiles: points that divide the frequency distribution into equal fourths. Deciles: similar to quartiles except that they use points that mark 10% rather than 25% intervals. Stanine system: his system converts any set of scores into a transformed scale, which ranges from 1 to 9. The scale is standardized to have a mean of 5 and a standard deviation of approximately 2 Norms  refer to the performances by defined groups on particular tests.  The norms for a test are based on the distribution of scores obtained by some defined sample of individuals.  The mean is a norm, and the 50th percentile is a norm. Norms are used to give information about performance relative to what has been observed in a standardization sample.

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Tracking: tendency to stay at about the same level relative to one’s peers

Residual: The difference between the observed and predicted score (Y − Y 0)

Norm-referenced test: compares each person with a norm

The best-fitting line: keeps residuals to a minimum; minimizes the deviation between observed and predicted Y scores

Criterion-referenced test: describes the specific types of skills, tasks, or knowledge that the test taker can demonstrate such as mathematical skills

PART I: PRINCIPLES: C3: Correlation and Regression Correlation coefficient: mathematical index that describes the direction and magnitude of a relationship. Three hypothetical relationships:  positive correlation: X and Y have high scores  negative correlation: X & Y have high & low scores  no correlation. Regression: used to make predictions about scores on one variable from knowledge of scores on another variable. Regression line: defined as the best-fitting straight line through a set of points in a scatter diagram. It is found by using the principle of least squares, which minimizes the squared deviation around the regression line. Regression coefficient: (b) is the slope of the regression line. The regression coefficient can be expressed as the ratio of the sum of squares for the covariance to the sum of squares for X. Sum of squares: defined as the sum of the squared deviations around the mean Covariance: used to express how much two measures covary, or vary together. Slope: describes how much change is expected in Y each time X increases by one unit. Intercept: (a) the value of Y when X is 0; the point at which the regression line crosses the Y axis.

Principle of least squares: the best-fitting line is obtained by keeping these squared residuals as small as possible. Pearson product moment correlation coefficient: a ratio used to determine the degree of variation in one variable that can be estimated from knowledge about variation in the other variable. The correlation coefficient can take on any value from −1.0 to 1.0. degrees of freedom: (df ) defined as the sample sizeminus two, or N − 2. Regression plots: are pictures that show the relationship between variables Spearman’s rho: a method of correlation for finding the association between two sets of ranks. The rho coefficient (r) is easy to calculate and is often used when the individuals in a sample can be ranked on two variables but their actual scores are not known or have a normal distribution. Dichotomous variables: have only two levels. Examples are yes–no, correct–incorrect, and male–female. True dichotomous variables: because they naturally form two categories. Ex: gender Artificially dichotomous variables: because they reflect an underlying continuous scale forced into a dichotomy. Ex: Pass or fail in a test Biserial correlation: expresses the relationship between a continuous variable and an artificial dichotomous variable. Point biserial correlation: To find the association between a dichotomous (two-choice) variable and a continuous variable. phi coefficient: When both variables are dichotomous and at least one of the dichotomies is “true”

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PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING: Principles, Applications, & Issues 8th Edition |Kaplan & Sacuzzo | tetrachoric correlation: If both dichotomous variables are artificial Variable Y

Continuous

Continuous Artificial Dichotomous True Dichotomous

Pearson r Biserial r Point biserial r

Variable X Artificial Dichotomous Biserial r Tetrachoric

True Dichotomous Point Biserial r Phi

Phi

Phi

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Discriminant analysis: multivariate method; to find the linear combination of variables that provides a maximum discrimination between categories Factor analysis: used to study the interrelationships among a set of variables without reference to a criterion.

PART I: PRINCIPLES: C4: Reliability

Standard error of estimate  the standard deviation of the residual  The standard error of estimate is a measure of the accuracy of prediction. Prediction is most accurate when the standard error of estimate is relatively small. As it becomes larger, the prediction becomes less accurate. Coefficient of determination: the correlation coefficient squared; this value tells us the proportion of the total variation in scores on Y that we know as a function of information about X. Coefficient of alienation is a measure of nonassociation between two variables. Shrinkage: is the amount of decrease observed when a regression equation is created for one population and then applied to another. Cross validation: use the regression equation to predict performance in a group of subjects other than the ones to which the equation was applied. Then a standard error of estimate can be obtained for the relationship between the values predicted by the equation and the values actually observed. Third variable: external influence Multivariate analysis: considers the relationship among combinations of three or more variables. Multiple regression: type of multivariate analysis; to find the linear combination of the (three) variables that provides the best prediction of (law school success).

Error: implies that there will always be some inaccuracy in our measurements. Reliable: Tests that are relatively free of measurement error Abraham De Moivre: introduced the basic notion of sampling error, 1733 Karl Pearson: developed the ...