Testing and Assessment

History

• 1905: Alfred Binet and colleagues published a test for Paris school children’s placement in appropriate classes
• WWI in 1917: US military needed a way to screen large number of recruits → “testing”
  • if a person is fit to go to war
  • screening tool
• After the war: more psychological tests to measure other psychological variables
• WW2: distinction between “testing” and “assessment” began to emerge

Definition

• Testing: the process of measuring psychology-related variables by means of devices or procedures designed to obtain a sample of behavior
• Assessment: the gathering and integration of psychology-related data for the purpose of making a psychological evaluation through tools such as tests, interviews, case studies, behavioral observation, and other methods

Objective

• Testing: typically to obtain some gauge, usually numerical in nature, with regard to an ability or attribute
• Assessment: typically to answer a referral question, solve a problem or arrive at a decision through the tools of evaluation

Process

• Testing: may be individual or group in nature; add up the number of correct answers or certain types of responses
• Assessment: typically individualized, focuses on how the individual processes

Role of Evaluator

• Testing: not key to the process, tester substitution won’t affect the evaluation
• Assessment: key to the process of selecting tests, tools of evaluation and drawing conclusions from the entire evaluation

Skill of Evaluator

• Testing: technician-like skills for administering, scoring, interpreting a test result
• Assessment: requires educated selection of tools, skill in evaluation, organization, and integration of data

Outcome

• Testing: yields a test score or a series of test scores
• Assessment: logical problem-solving approach using sources of data to shed light on a referral question

Process of Assessment

1. Referral from a source, to answer a referral question.
2. Assessor meets the assessee or others to clarify aspects of the reason for referral.
3. Assessor prepares or selects the tools of assessment to be used
4. Formal Assessment
5. Write a report of the findings that is designed to answer the referral question.
6. Feedback sessions with the assessee or third parties.

Types of Assessment

• Collaborative Psychological Assessment: the assessor and assessee work as partners
• Therapeutic Psychological Assessment: therapeutic self-discovery is encouraged through the assessment process
• Dynamic Assessment: typically employed in educational settings but also may be used in correctional, corporate, neuropsychological, clinical, and other settings

Evaluation → Intervention → Evaluation

Tools of Psychological Assessment

Test

• a device or procedure designed to measure variables related to psychology
  • intelligence, attitudes, personality, interests, etc.
  • vary by content, format, administration, scoring, interpretation, and technical quality
• Content
  • subject matter of the test
  • depends on the theoretical orientation of test developers and the unique way in which they define the construct of interest
• Format
  • the form, plan, structure, layout of test items, and other considerations
  • time limits
• Administration
  • tests may require certain tasks to be performed, trained observation of performance, or little involvement by the test administrators
  • self-report questionnaires
• Scoring and Interpretation
  • scoring of tests may be simple, such as summing responses to items, or may require more elaborate procedures
  • some tests results can be interpreted easily, or interpreted by computer, whereas other tests require expertise for proper interpretation
• Cut Score
  • a reference point, usually numerical, used to divide data into two or more classifications
  • pass or fail
• Technical Quality or Psychometric Soundness
  • psychometrics is the science of psychological measurement
  • the psychometric soundness of a test depends on how consistently and accurately the test measures what it purports to measure
  • test users are sometimes referred to as psychometrists or psychometricians

Interview

• a method of gathering information through direct communication involving reciprocal exchange
• vary as to their purpose, length, and nature
• quality of information obtained in an interview often depends on the skills of the interviewer
  • their pacing, rapport, and their ability to convey genuineness, empathy, and humor

Portfolio

• a file containing the products of one’s work
• may serve as a sample of one’s abilities and accomplishments

Case History Data

• information preserved in records, transcripts, or other forms

Behavioral Observation

• monitoring the actions of people through visual or electronic means

Role-Play Test

• assesses are directed to act as if they were in a particular situation
• useful in evaluating various skills

Computer as Tools

• Computers can assist in test administration, scoring, and interpretation
• Assessment is increasingly conducted via the internet

Advantages of Internet Testing

1. greater access to potential test-users
2. scoring and interpretation tends to be quicker
3. costs tend to be lower
4. facilitates testing of otherwise isolated populations and people with disabilities

Who are the Parties?

Test Developer

• tests are created for research studies, publications, or as modifications of existing tests
  • Publication: commercially available instruments

Test User

• tests are used by a wide range of professionals

Test Taker

• anyone who is the subject of an assessment or evaluation is a test-taker
• may differ on a number of variables at the time of testing
  • test anxiety, emotional distress, physical discomfort, alertness, etc.

Society at Large

• test- developers create tests to meet the needs of an evolving society
• law and court decisions may play a major role in test development, administration, and interpretation

Other Parties

• organizations, companies, and governmental agencies sponsor the development of tests
• companies may offer test scoring and interpretation
• researchers may review tests and evaluate their psychometric soundness

Main Use of Psychological Tests

• to evaluate individual differences or variations among individuals

Types of Settings

Educational Settings

• students typically undergo school ability tests and achievement tests
• diagnostic tests may be used to identify areas for educational intervention
• educators may also make informal evaluations of their students

Clinical Settings

• includes hospitals, inpatient and outpatient clinics, private-practice consulting rooms, schools, and other institutions
• assessment tools are used to help screen for or diagnose behavior problems

Counseling Settings

• includes schools, prisons, and governmental or privately owned institutions
• the goal of assessments in this setting is improvements in adjustment, productivity, or related variable

Geriatric Settings

• assessment primarily evaluates cognitive, psychological, adaptive, or other functioning
• at issue is quality of life

Business and Military Settings

• decisions regarding careers of personnel are made with a variety of achievement, aptitude, interest, motivational, and other tests

Government and Organizational Credentialing

• includes governmental licensing, certification, or general credentialing of professionals
  • attorneys, physicians, and psychologists

How Assessments are Conducted

• there are many different methods used
• ethical testers have responsibilities before, during, and after testing

Obligations Include

• familiarity with test materials and procedures
• ensuring that the room in which the test will be conducted is suitable and conducive to the testing
• it it important to establish rapport during test administration
  • Rapport: a working relationship between the examiner and the examinee

Assessment of People with Disabilities

• the law mandates “alternate assessment” -- the definition of this is up to states or school districts
• accommodations need to be made -- the adaptation of a test, procedure, or situation, or the substitutions of one test for another, to make the assessment more suitable for an assessee with exceptional needs