Summary of Psychological Testing and Assessment (7th Ed. by Cohen-Swerdlik) PDF

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PSYCHLOGICAL TESTING AND ASSESSMENT (7TH EDITION BY COHEN-SWERDLIK)

PREPARED BY: MARIELLE B. REMOLLO BSPSYCHOLOGY NEGROS ORIENTAL STATE UNIVERSITY

Psychological Testing and Assessment CHAPTER 1: AN OVERVIEW  Roots of contemporary psychological testing and assessment can be found in early twentieth-century France  In 1905, Alfred Binet and a colleague published a test designed to help place Paris schoolchildren in appropriate classes  Within a decade, an Englishlanguage version of Binet’s test was prepared for use in schools in the United States.  When the United States declared war on Germany and entered World War I in 1917, the military needed a way to screen large numbers of recruits quickly for intellectual and emotional problems.  World War II, the military would depend even more on psychological tests to screen recruits for service.  Following the war, more and more tests purporting to measure an ever-widening array of psychological variables were developed and used.

Psychological Testing and Assessment Definition  Testing- the term used to refer to everything from the administration of a test  Assessment- data generated were subjected to thoughtful integration and evaluation by highly trained assessment center staff  Psychological testing -the process of measuring psychology-related variables by means of devices or procedures designed to obtain a sample of behavior  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

OBJECTIVE

TESTING to obtain some gauge, usually numerical in nature, with regard to an ability or attribute

ASSESSMENT to answer a referral question, solve a problem, or a rrive at a decision through the use of tools of evaluation Assessment is typically individualized. In contrast to testing, assessment more typically focuses on how an individual p rocesses rather than simply the results of that processing The assessor is key to the process of selecting tests and/or other tools of evaluation as well as in drawing conclusions from the entire evaluation

PROCESS

Testing may be individual or group in nature.

ROLE OF EVALUATOR

The tester is not key to the process; practically speaking, one tester may be substituted for another tester without appreciably affecting the evaluation.

SKILL OF EVALUATOR

Testing typically requires technician-like Assessment typically requires an educated skills in terms of administering and scoring a selection of tools of evaluation, skill in test as well as in interpreting a test result evaluation, and thoughtful organization and integration of data.

OUTCOME

testing yields a test score or series of test scores.

assessment entails a logical problem-solving a pproach that brings to bear many sources of data designed to shed light on a referral question

The Tools of Psychological Assessment Test- may be defined simply as a measuring device or procedure Psychological test -refers to a device or procedure designed to measure variables related to psychology Format -pertains to the form, plan, structure, arrangement, and layout of test items as well as to related considerations such as time limits. Format is also used to refer to the form in which a test is administered: computerized, pencil-and-paper, or some other form Scoring - the process of assigning such evaluative codes or statements to performance on tests, tasks, interviews, or other behavior samples 

Cut score - a reference point, usually numerical, derived by judgment and used to divide a set of data into two or more classifi cations.

Psychometrics -may be defi ned as the science of psychological measurement THE INTERVIEW -the interview as a tool of psychological assessment typically involves more than talk. -the interviewer is taking note of both verbal and nonverbal behavior -method of gathering information through direct communication involving reciprocal exchange. THE PORTFOLIO -paper, canvas, film, video, audio, or some other medium— constitute what is called a portfolio -samples of one’s ability and accomplishment, a portfolio may be used as a tool of evaluation CASE HISTORY DATA - refers to records, transcripts, and other accounts in written, p ictorial, or other form that preserve archival information, official and informal accounts, and other data and items relevant to an assessee. -can shed light on an individual’s past and current adjustment as well as on the events and circumstances that may have contributed to any changes in adjustment. BEHAVIORAL OBSERVATION - monitoring the actions of others or oneself by visual or electronic means while recording quantitative and/or qualitative information regarding the actions - often used as a diagnostic aid in various settings such as inpatient facilities, behavioral research laboratories, and classrooms - Sometimes researchers venture outside of the confines of clinics, classrooms, workplaces, and research laboratories in order to observe behavior of humans in a natural setting—that is, the setting in which the behavior would typically be expected to occur. This variety of behavioral observation is referred to as naturalistic observation

ROLE PLAY TEST - acting an improvised or partially improvised part in a simulated situation - tool of assessment wherein assessees are directed to act as if they were in a particular situation COMPUTER AS TOOLS -Computers can serve as test administrators (online or off) and as highly effi cient test scorers. Within seconds they can derive not only test scores but patterns of test scores -If processing occurs at a central location, test-related data may be sent to and returned from this central facility by means of phone lines ( teleprocessing ), by mail, or courier - Whether processed locally or centrally, the account of performance spewed out can range from a mere listing of score or scores (i.e., a simple scoring report ) to the more detailed extended scoring report, which includes statistical analyses of the testtaker’s performance. - CAPA refers to the term computer assisted psychological assessment. By the way, here the word assisted typically refers to the assistance com puters provide to the test user, not the testtaker

Who, What, Why, How, and Where? Who are the parties in the assessment enterprise? Parties in the assessment enterprise include developers and publishers of tests, users of tests, and people who are evaluated by means of tests 

 The test developer -Test developers and publishers create tests or other methods of assessment  The test user -Psychological tests and assessment methodologies are used by a wide range of professionals, including clinicians, counselors, school psychologists, human resources personnel,consumer psychologists, experimental psychologists, social psychologists  The testtaker -anyone who is the subject of an assessment or an evaluation can be a testtaker or an assessee. Psychological autopsy may be defined as a reconstruction of a deceased individual’s psychological profi le on the basis of archival records, artifacts, and interviews 

In what types of settings are assessments conducted?

Educational settings -As mandated by law, tests are administered early in school life to help identify children who may have special needs -school ability tests, another type of test commonly given in schools is an achievement test, which evaluates accomplishment or the degree of learning that has taken place Diagnosis may be defined as a d escription or conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and opinion

Diagnostic test refers to a tool of assessment used to help narrow down and identify areas of defi cit to be targeted for i ntervention. In educational settings, diagnostic tests of reading, mathematics, and other academic subjects may be administered to assess the need for educational intervention as well as to establish or rule out eligibility for special education programs. Clinical settings -These tools are used to help screen for or diagnose behavior problems. - The tests employed in clinical settings may be intelligence tests, personality tests, neuropsychological tests, or other specialized instruments, depending on the presenting or suspected problem area Counseling settings - Assessment in a counseling context may occur in environments as diverse as schools, prisons, and government or privately owned institutions. Regardless of the particular tools used, the ultimate objective of many such assessments is the improvement of the assessee in terms of adjustment, productivity, or some related variable. Geriatric settings -Older individuals; at some point require psychological assessment to evaluate cognitive, psychological, adaptive, or other functioning. At issue in many such assessments is the extent to which assessees are enjoying as good a quality of life as possible. Business and military settings -In business, as in the military, tests are used in many ways, perhaps most notably in decision making about the careers of personnel. Governmental and organizational credentialing -One of the many applications of measurement is in governmental licensing, certifi cation, or general credentialing of p rofessionals. 

How are assessments conducted?

-Establish rapport -Safeguarding the test protocols to conveying the test results in a clearly understandable fashion. Protocol: refers to the form or sheet or booklet on which the testtaker’s responses are entered. -there are other obligations such as those related to scoring the test -Interpreting the test results and seeing to it that the test data are used in accordance with established procedures and ethical guidelines constitute further obligations of test users

- If there were third parties present during testing or if anything else that might be considered out of the ordinary happened during testing, it is the test user’s responsibility to make a note of such events on the report of the testing Assessment of people with disabilities People with disabilities are assessed for exactly the same reasons that people with no disabilities are assessed: to obtain employment, to earn a professional credential, to be screened for psychopathology, and so forth Accommodation may be defi ned as the 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 is an evaluative or diagnostic procedure or process that varies from the usual, customary, or standardized way a measurement is derived either by virtue of some special accommodation made to the assessee or by means of alternative methods designed to measure the same variable(s). 

Where does one go for authoritative information about tests?

Test catalogues -one of the most readily accessible sources of information is a catalogue distributed by the publisher of the test -publishers’ catalogues usually contain only a brief description of the test and seldom contain the kind of detailed technical information that a prospective user might require. -the catalogue’s objective is to sell the test -highly critical reviews of a test are seldom, if ever, found in a publisher’s test catalogue. Test manual - detailed information concerning the development of a particular test and technical information -for security purposes, the test publisher will typically require documentation of professional training before fi lling an order for a test manual Reference volumes -“one-stop shopping” for a great deal of test-related information. -this volume, which is also updated periodically, provides detailed information for each test listed, including test publisher, test author, test purpose, intended test population, and test administration time. Journal articles - articles in current journals may contain reviews of the test, updated or independent studies of its psychometric soundness, or examples of how the instrument was used in either research or an applied context

-journals are a rich source of information on important trends in testing and assessment. Online databases -the American Psychological Association (APA) maintains a number of databases useful in locating psychology-related information in journal articles, book chapters, and doctoral dissertations Other Source - Your school library contains a number of other sources that may be used to acquire information about tests and test-related topics

Psychological Testing and Assessment CHAPTER 2: HISTORICAL, CULTURAL AND LEGAL/ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

A Historical Perspective Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century -Tests and testing programs first came into being in China as early as 2200 b.c.e. -Testing was instituted as a means of selecting who, of many applicants, would obtain government jobs -In dynasties where state-sponsored examinations, referred to as imperial examinations, for official positions were in force, the consequential privileges for succeeding varied. -Also intriguing from a historical perspective are ancient Greco-Roman writings indicative of attempts to categorize people in terms of personality types. Such categorizations typically included reference to an overabundance or defi ciency in some bodily fluid (such as blood or phlegm) as a factor believed to infl uence personality -Assessment was also an important activity at the fi rst experimental psychology laboratory, founded at the University of Leipzig in Germany by Wilhelm Max Wundt (1832–1920), a medical doctor whose title at the university was professor of philosophy. -Much of the nineteenth-century testing that could be described as psychological in nature involved the measurement of sensory abilities, reaction time, and the like. -But all of that would change in the early 1900s with the birth of the fi rst formal tests of intelligence, tests that could really be useful for reasons readily understandable to anyone who had schoolage children. The Twentieth Century The measurement of intelligence: -As early as 1895, Alfred Binet (1857–1911) and his colleague Victor Henri published several articles in which they argued for the measurement of abilities such as memory and social comprehension. Ten years later, Binet and collaborator Theodore Simon published a 30-item “measuring scale of intelligence” designed to help identify mentally retarded Paris schoolchildren (Binet & Simon, 1905). The Binet test would go through many revisions and translations—and, in the process, launch both the intelligence testing movement and the clinical testing movement. - In 1939, D avid Wechsler, a clinical psychologist at Be llevue Hospital in New York City, introduced a test designed to measure adult intelligence. - A natural outgrowth of the individually administered intelligence test devised by Binet was the group intelligence test. Group intelligence tests came into being in

the United States in response to the military’s need for an efficient method of screening the intellectual ability of World War I recruits The measurement of personality: - World War I had brought with it not only the need to screen the intellectual functioning of recruits but also the need to screen for recruits’ general adjustment. A government Committee on Emotional Fitness chaired by psychologist Robert S. Woodworth was assigned the task of developing a measure of adjustment and emotional stability that could be administered quickly and effi ciently to groups of recruits - The committee developed several experimental versions of what were, in essence, paper-and-pencil psychiatric interviews. To disguise the true purpose of one such test, the questionnaire was labeled as a “Personal Data Sheet.” - After the war, Woodworth developed a personality test for civilian use that was based on the Personal Data Sheet. He called it the Woodworth Psychoneurotic Inventory. - Filling the need for measures of personality that did not rely on self-report were various methods. One such method or approach to personality assessment came to be described as projective in nature. The academic and applied traditions : - The development of psychological measurement can be traced along two distinct threads: the academic and the applied. In the tradition of Galton, Wundt, and other scholars, psychological testing and assessment are practiced today in university psychology laboratories as a means of furthering knowledge about human and animal behavior. There is also a very strong applied tradition, one that dates back in modern times to the work of people like Binet and in ancient times to China and the administration of competitive civil service examinations

Culture and Assessment Culture- efined as “the socially transmitted behavior patterns, beliefs, and products of work of a particular population, community, or group of people” Culture-specific tests- or tests designed for use with people from one culture but not from another Some Issues Regarding Culture and Assessment: Verbal communication: Language, the means by which information is communicated, is a key yet sometimes overlooked variable in the assessment process. Most obviously, the examiner and the examinee must speak the same language.

Nonverbal communication and behavior: Humans communicate not only through verbal means but also through nonverbal means. Facial expressions, fi nger and hand signs, and shifts in one’s position in space may all convey messages. Standards of evaluation: A challenge inherent in the assessment enterprise concerns tempering test- and assessment-related outcomes with good judgment regarding the cultural relativity of those outcomes.

Legal and Ethical Considerations

The Rights of Testtakers The right of informed consent: -Testtakers have a right to know why they are being evaluated, how the test data will be used, and what (if any) information will be released to whom. -With full knowledge of such information, testtakers give their informed consent to be tested. The right to be informed of test findings: -Testtakers have a right to be informed, in language they can understand, of the nature of the fi ndings with respect to a test they have taken. -They are also entitled to know what recommendations are being made as a consequence of the test data. -If the test results, fi ndings, or recommendations made on the basis of test data are voided for any reason (such as irregularities in the test administration), testtakers have a right to know that as well. The right to privacy and confidentiality: -The concept of the privacy right “recognizes the freedom of the individual to pick and choose for himself the time, circumstances, and particularly the extent to which he wishes to share or withhold from others his attitudes, beliefs, behavior, and opinions” -Confi dentiality may be distinguished from privilege in that, whereas “confi dentiality concerns matters of communication outside the courtroom, privilege protects clients from disclosure in judicial proceedings” The right to the least stigmatizing label: -The Standards advise that the least stigmatizing labels should always be assigned when reporting test results

Psychological Testing and Assessment CHAPTER 3: A STATISTIC REFRESHER

Scales of Measurement Measurement- The act of assigning numbers or symbols to characteristics of things (people, events, whatever) according to rules. The rules used in assigning numbers are guidelines for representing the magnitude (or some other characteristic) of the object being measured Scale - a set of numbers (or other symbols) whose properties model empirical properties of the objects to which the numbers are assigned.

NOMINAL SCALES -involves classification or categorization e.g. people may be characterized by gender in a study designed to compare performance of men and women on some test ORDINA...