Psychological Assessment

• Text is about Psychological Assessment

Testing and Assessment

• Assessment is used to place Paris school children in appropriate classes, starting in 1905 with Alfred Binet's test.
• Testing ranges from the administration of a test to the interpretation of scores.
• It was once used to describe the group screening of thousands of military recruits.
• Psychological assessment involves gathering and integrating psychology-related data to make a psychological evaluation.
• Education assessment evaluates abilities and skills relevant in a school context.
• Retrospective assessment draws conclusions about the existed-psychological aspects of an individual before the assessment.
• Remote assessment has the subject not in physical proximity to the person conducting the evaluation.
• Ecological Momentary assessment is an "in the moment" evaluation of specific problems and related cognitive and behavioral variables at the time and place that they occur.
• Collaborative assessment has the assessor and assessee working as "partners" from the initial contact through final feedback
• Therapeutic assessment encourages therapeutic self-discovery and new understanding.
• Dynamic assessment describes an interactive approach that usually follows the model: evaluation, intervention of some sort, then evaluation.
• Psychological testing measures psychology-related variables by means of devices or procedures designed to obtain a sample of behavior.

Testing

• Testing results are usually numerical.
• Testing is administered individually or by a group.
• Test administrators can be interchangeable without affecting evaluation.
• It requires technician-like skills in administration and scoring.
• It yields a test score or a series of test scores.

Assessment

• Answers the referral question through the use of different evaluation tools.
• It is administered individually.

Assessors

• The key to the process of selecting tests and other evaluation tools.
• Requires educated selection of evaluation tools, skill in evaluation, and thoughtful organization and integration of data.
• Entails logical problem-solving that brings many sources of data assigned to answer the referral question.
• Test measures a device or a procedure.
• Psychological Test device or procedure designed to measure variables related to psychology.
• Content is the subject matter

Format

• Form, plan, structure, arrangement, layout

Items

• Specific stimulus to which a person responds overtly.
• Response is being scored or evaluated.

Administration procedures

• One-to-one basis, or group administration

Score

• The code or summary of a statement.
• Usually, but not necessarily numerical in nature, reflects an evaluation of test performance.
• Scoring is the process of assigning scores to performances.

Cut-Score

• A reference point derived by judgement.
• It is used to divide a set of data into two or more classifications.
• Psychometric soundness refers to the technical quality.
• Psychometrics is the science of psychological measurement.
• Psychometrists or psychometricians refer to professionals who use, analyze, and interpret psychological data.
• Achievement tests measure previous learning.
• Aptitude refers to the potential for learning or acquiring a specific skill.

Intelligence

• Refers to a person's general potential to solve problems, adapt to changing environments, have abstract thinking, and profit from experience.
• Human ability - a considerable overlap of achievement aptitude and intelligence tests.
• Structured personality tests provide statement, usually self-report, and require the subject to choose between two or more alternative responses.
• Projective Personality Tests are unstructured, and the stimulus or response is ambiguous.
• An interview is a method of gathering information through direct communication involving reciprocal exchange.
• A panel (board) interview contains more than one interviewer
• Motivational Interview is used by counselors and clinicians to gather information about some problematic behavior while attempting to address it therapeutically.
• A portfolio are samples of one's ability and accomplishment.

Case history data

• Refers to records, transcripts, and other written, pictorial, or accounts preserving archival information, formal and informal accounts, and items relevant to an assessee.
• A case study is a report or illustrative account about a person or compiled on the basis of case history data.
• Groupthink is the result of the varied forces that drive decision-makers to reach a consensus.
• Behavioral observation is the monitoring actions of other or oneself by visual or electronic means while recording quantitative/qualitative information.
• Naturalistic observation observes humans in a natural setting.
• Role play - defined as acting an or partially improvised part in a stimulated settings
• Role Play Test assess directed to act as if they are in particular situation.
• Other roles include computer, physiological devices like biofeedback devices

Who, What, Why, How, and Where?

• Test developers create tests or other assessment methods
• Test users are clinicians, counselors, psychologists, HR personnel, consumer psychologists, experimental psychologists, and social psychologists.
• Test takers take the test.

Factors test takers vary in

• Test anxiety levels.
• Extent to which they understand and agree to the rationale for the assessment.
• Capacity and willingness to cooperate.
• The amount of physical or emotional distress.
• The amount of physical discomfort.
• Alertness level.
• Predisposition to agree or disagree when presented with stimulus statements.
• If they received prior coaching.
• If they portray themselves in a good or bad light.
• Whether they are prone to "luckiness" or have "bad luck" on multiple-choice achievement tests.
• A psychological autopsy is on the basis of archival records, artifacts, and interviews with the deceased assess or people who knew them.
• Other parties include organizations, companies, or governments that could sponsor the test.

What?

• Educational Setting
• Achievement tests evaluate accomplishment or the degree of learning that has taken place.

Setting

• Educational, Clinical, Counseling, Geriatric

Setting goal

• Clinical - helps screen for or diagnose behavior problems
• Counseling - improve client in terms of adjustment
• Geriatric - relates variables to satisfaction levels
• Educational- evaluates learning and takes place learning

Type of Test

• Achievement, Diagnostic, Informal
• Tests could be intelligence, personality or neuropsychological test.
• Usually all individual setting

Dementia

• Loss of cognitive functioning due to brain damage.

Settings

• Business,Military, Governmental, Academic Research,Judicary
• Test should be used to help only those appropriate and necessary
• Goal: to help promote right decision in settings.
• Governmental licensing to professionals.
• Academic research to publish data.

How?

• Test Proper Admin with tested prepared and with knowledge to properly adiminster
• Protocol and Rapport are always important
• Alternative assessment
• accomodations

Where? Resources available to view

• Test catalogues
• Test Manual
• Journals, Books, Databases

History

• Testing programs were first held in China
• Abraham De Moivre introduce the basic notion of sampling error.
• Darwin argued genetic variation.
• Galton explored individual difference
• Wihelm Wundt focus on how similar people are
• Charels Spearman has been credited with originating concept of Test relability.
• Alfred Benit & Theodore Simon publish first test to ID schoolchildren with ID
• David Wechsler introduce Intelligence Test(1939)
• L.M. Terman revised Binet test.
• Robert Woodworth task was to develop measure adjustment for military.
• Henry Murray & Christiana Morgan developed Thematic Apperceptions Test.
• J.R. Guilford made first attempt analytic technique in structured personality test.

Victor Henri

• Collaborated with Alfred Binet on how tests could measure higher mental processes.

Emil Kraepelin

• Early experimentation with word association as a test.
• One of the founding founders of modern psychiatry.

Lightning Witmer

• First Psychological clinic
• 1905 published first intelligence tests designed to help identify intelligence, such as standization sample, Representative Sample.
• 1939 David Wechsler introduced Adult Intelligence Test.

Test takers vary

• Takers vary in Amount of test anxiety extents and level of agreement, amount of distress and discomfort luckiness and knowledge of the test.
• The Psychological Autopsy.

The Who

• Test Developers the test.
• Test User (psychologist, counselors, HR)
• Test Taker (Who taking assessment.

Questions and Test

• Need to make correct inference
• Provide info about specific topics
• Need sound knowlege for assessment

Issues about Psychological testing

• Tool can be used properly or improperly
• Used in appropriate time
• Used in appropiate way

Good testing is

• Clear, has reliability, has validity and its easy to maintain.
• Used in Norm referenced test, method of evaluation, a way a derriving measninf test core comparing to test result.
• Give information on a test takers rating relatively.
• Test Developers create clear Norms

Types of Samples

• Random Sample, Systemic Sample, Stratified Sample, Cluster Sampe
• There also non probablity sampling. This includes researchers picking their own sample, or convenience/Quota sampling.
• Snowball or referal is where test taker invites more to join

Standardization

• After standardization the test will adnimister according to instruction set.

Test must also describe the

• The recommended settings for providing test percentile measure or cut score or age norms

History of Measuring

• Ratio true points
• Describing data, distribution set and list of text scores.

Frequencies

• All scores is listed alog side the number of scores

Independent variable

• Quasi indepdent variable
• Factor to know, Tukeys and HSD Test to know
• Measure Central Tendency

Central Tendency

• Indicate middest best score with the mean or average of raw scores
• Median is the middle,Identical sample and populations
• Mod: frequency occured

Variability

• How distribution are spread
• Measures variabilty to decribe amojnt of variation.
• Standard deviation equal to squareroot of mean.

Normal Curve

• Also known as gaussian curve. bell shapes and touches axis.
• Symmetrical and One Mode with only once.
• Skew Nature - Nature and extent to which symmetry. Is absent on the nature.
• T Test, one tailed, T-Tests Used to test hypothosis with unknown population.

Correlation

• Correlation expression in relationships and direction
• 0 - No correlation. Used in multiple linear regression and dependent variable and independent variable and is used on a slop of an estimator.
• Correlation infernce to have value in strength- Karl Person devise the best use for it.

Hypothesis Testing.

• Alpha level for hypothesis test that probability.
• Null hypotheis If Sample data falls in region the null tests is rejected.

2 different groups

• Varies in 2 different groups
• T Tests
• The Nornms used often.
• Age Related Norm

Reliability

• Dependability and Consistency to see if can be relied to a certain context. This Includes : test administration, test taker, test scoring, interpretation
• Relies 3 items TestRetest , Parallel Forms, Alternate From
• SplitTest is obtain by corerlating two parts

Reliability and Correlation

• Refers too the degree of correlation among all the items on the scale. Can check consistensy accross instruments
• Measure to use one facter homogenous - tests measure.

Average proportion

• is used with the method of use or if can't have reliability.
• Dynamic is changing ability
• Static Barely and unchanching
• Reliability should be based independent. Tests using reliability, or alternate form will show more consistent and true test.