Transcript Empirical program Session 1: Introduction. Test as

Lecture 2.
Test as a tool of psychological assessment –
essential concepts.
Psychological traits.
Types of tests, brief history of testing,
ethical and legal aspects of testing.
Reference:
Murphy, K. R. & Davidshofer, C. O. (1998).
Psychological testing. Principles and
applications: International Edition (6/e).
Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice-Hall,
Inc. (Chapters: 1 - 3).
Trait Approach (to personality)
Trait – an early definition
“generalized and personalized
determining tendencies - consistent
and stable modes of an individual’s
adjustment to his environment”

Allport & Odbert (1936, p. 26)
Traits
Traits = broad dispositions to act in
specific ways

disposition = tendency (e.g., people with
high anxiety tend to avoid threatening
experiences)

broad = abstraction (not specific instance;

adjectives (helpful) rather than verbs (help)
Traits
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abstractions based on common
features (e.g., extraversion)

hypothetical – can not
observed/measured directly  need
to „translate” trait into something
measurable (behavior)
Traits
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Personal (‘internal’) rather than situational
(‘external’)
Stable rather than transitory (across time)
Consistent rather than inconsistent (across
‘similar’ situations)
General rather than specific (across ‘different’
situations)
Universal dimensions: Individual differences
(across people)
Traits are:
1. Dimensional (ordering of people) not
categorical
2. Hypothetical (not observable)
3. Causal (internal) or Descriptive (summaries)
4.
Organized in a system
5. Consistent over settings and time
Trait Organisation
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Comprehensive trait taxonomies
assume traits exist at varying levels
of abstraction and are organized
hierarchically
Major taxonomies
• Eysenck
• Cattell
• Five factor model
Measurement of Traits
Hypothetical nature of trait - can not know with
absolute certainty measure is tapping intended
trait
Many measures of same trait
All with error – variance not due to trait (different
types of measure have different sources of error)
Trait
Measure
Psychologial Tests as Traits Assessment
Instruments
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Tests:
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Reliability
Validity
Objectivity
Standarization
Norms
Responsibilities of test autor and
test user
Use of tests – essential ethical principles
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Informed Consent – patient/client/
subject must voluntarily consent to
the assessment
• Responsibility to inform about the
nature and purpose of the assessment
(understandable language)
• Children/others of limited capacity –
consent obtained from parent or legal
guardian
Use of tests – essential ethical principles
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Knowledge of results – right to full disclosure
of test results (understandable language)
Confidentiality – test results as confidential
information
• Keeping test results in a secure manner
• Not refering to these data outside the context and
purpose for which they were obtained
• Exceptions required by law or court action

Test security – keeping test material in secure
environment
• Test items are not to be revealed in casual converstions
and public media
Use of tests – essential ethical principles
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Test construction and publication – maintaining high
standards of test development
• tests are expected to have expertise regarding validity, reliability, and
norms
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Automated scoring/interpretation systems – psychologist
utilizing them retains responsibility for proper interpretation of
test results
Unqualified Persons – psychologist does not allow or condone
the use of tests by unqualified persons
• Psychologist takes prudent actions obserwing such situations

Test user qualifications (test purchaser qualifications) – three –
tier system for test user qualifications (1950)
• Level A – minimal training (educational achievement and job
proficiency)
• Level B – some knowledge of technical characteristics of tests
required (group administered mental ability and interest
inventories)
• Level C – advanced training (individually administered
intelligence tests and personality tests)
Test administration
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No matter how carefully a test is constructed, the
results are worthless unless it is administered
and scored properly!
Influence of examinier’s appearance and behavior
on test results
Especially important in case of individual tests
Situation variables:
• Time and place of testing
• Environmental conditions (illumination, temperature,
noise leve, ventilation, distractions)
Examiner’s duties before a test
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Scheduling – taking into account
examinee’s activities
• Right to prepare intellectually,
emotionally and physically
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Informed consent
Becoming familiar with the test
• careful studies on manual
• taking the test oneself
Examiner’s duties before testing
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Ensuring satisfactory testing
conditions
Minimizing cheating
Examiner’s duties during testing
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Following test directions
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Remaining alert (cheating, unnecessary noise)
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Establishing rapport
• effect of examiners behavior on examinee’s motivation
• being friendly but objective

Preparing for special problems
• Examinee’s anxiety (very young, very old, mentally disturbed
or retarded, physically handicapped or culturaly disadvanages
persons)
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Flexibility
• Practice on sample items
• Relatively short testing periods
• Giving encouragement and positive reinforcement
Being a psychologist and using tests in
Poland – intro to ethical & legal issues
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Psychologists Code of Professional Ethics
• Towarzystwo Psychologiczne (1992). Kodeks etyczno –
zawodowy psychologa. Warszawa: PTP.
[http://www.ptp.org.pl/modules.php?name=News&file=article
&sid=29]
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Psychologist profession and psychologists’ government act
• Ustawa z dnia 8 czerwca 2001 r. o zawodzie psychologa i
samorządzie zawodowym psychologów (Dz. U. Nr 73, poz.
763)
[http://www.ptp.org.pl/modules.php?name=News&file=article
&sid=47]
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Tests and copyright
Contemporary customs & regulations
Standards for tests in psychology and education
Types of tests
Criterion: the form of recording the examinee’s
behaviour (Cattell):
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Tests of performance
Behavior observations
Self-report instruments
(questionnaires/inventories)
Tests of Performance
• Referred to as "Tests of Maximal Performance"
• Subjects are given a well-defined task that they try to perform
successfully.
• Participant must know what he/she must
do in response to the task.
• The subject exerts maximal effort to
succeed.
• Performance tests are designed to uncover what
an individual can do, given the specific test
conditions.
Examples
- Intelligence Tests, language proficiency
- Biology test, flight simulator
Performance tests
1). Tests in which the examinee performs some
specific tasks - test requires „maximal
performance” (inteligence tests, tests of
special abilities, tests of specific skills or
proficiency, tests of psychomotor
performance).
Typesmaximal performance tests– „power”
tests, „speed” tests and tests with „strict
time limits”.
Behaviour Observation
• Naturalistic observation
• Involves observing the subject’s behaviour and responses
in a particular context.
• Differs from performance tests in that the subject does
not have a single, well defined task.
• The observer can record duration &
intensity
Examples
- Examiner might observe children interacting
or an individual having a conversation or some other social interaction.
- Companies recruit observers to pose as salespeople to observe
employee’s behaviors. Subject’s may be unaware they are being tested.
Self Report Instruments
- Participant is asked to report his or her feelings,
attitudes, beliefs, values.
When self-report makes sense:
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Self-report relies upon the test taker’s awareness and
honesty.
It is the best method to measure internal states - things
only the person themselves can be aware of and judge.
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People are not always good judges of their ability
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Provides an estimate
Self Report Instruments
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Many personality inventories such as the MMPI and the
16PF measures are based on self-report.
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Clinicians include self-report measures as part of their
initial examinations of presenting clients.
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Self-Report measures are frequently subject to selfcensorship.
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People know their responses are being measured and
wish to be seen in a favorable light. (self-serving bias)
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Items are frequently included to measure the extent to
which people provide socially desirable responses.
History of Test Development
circa 1000 BC. : Chinese introduced written tests to help fill civil service
positions Civil Laws, Military Affairs, Agriculture, Geography
1850 : The United States begins civil service examinations.
1885 : Germans tested people for brain damage
1890 : James Cattell develops a "mental test" to assess college students .
Test includes measures of strength, resistance to pain, and reaction time.
1905 : Binet-Simon scale of mental development used to classify
mentally retarded children in France.
1914 : World War I produces need in U.S. to quickly classify incoming
recruits. Army Alpha test and Army Beta test developed. Looked at
psychopathology.
1916 : Terman develops Stanford - Binet test and develops the idea of
Intelligence Quotient
History of Test Development (cont.)
1920 - 1940 : factor analysis, projective tests, and personality inventories
first appear.
1941-1960 : vocational interest measures developed
1961-1980 : item response theory and neuropsychological testing
developed
1980 - Present : Wide spread adaptation of computerized testing.
"Smart" Tests which can give each individual different test items develop
Formal classification of tests
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One-dimensional tests (one-scale
instruments) – interpretation in terms of trait’
intensity (quantitative diagnosis) or
typological (qualitative diagnosis).
Multi-dimensional tests (multi-scales
instruments) – interpretation in terms of
profile (model of parallel or hierarchical
traits), which may lead to the typological or
differential (within subject) diagnosis.
Fig 1. The test scores, assessing the trait
intensity
0,5
Average score – moderate trait intensity
0,25
Low score – low trait intensity
High score – high trait intensity
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2,5
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Fig. 2. One-scale test scores, serving for
typological diagnosis
Test score similar to the lower group
Test score similar to the upper group
0,5
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Typological diagnosis of one-scales
scores
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Typological (one-scale diagnosis) refers to
the special one-type.
Typological diagnosis may refer also to twotypes classification:
abnormal (type I) – normal – abnormal (type
II, opposite to type I)
Block’s concept of personality types, based
on the dimension of self-control:
overcontrolled (inhibited) type vs
underconstrolled (impulsive) type (normal
type of personality is between clinical types).
Fig. 3. Multi-scale test scores, serving for
profile diagnosis (parallel traits)
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Sten scale
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Fig. 4. Multi-scale test scores (hierarchical
model with parallel subtraits)
General Sensation Seeking
Boredom Susceptibility
Thrill and Adventure Seeking
Experience seeking
Disinhibition
Differential diagnosis of the test
profile
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Comparisons of the scales within one
subject, like comparison between verbal IQ
and nonverbal IQ (strictly quantitative
assessment).
Typological diagnosis of the test
profile
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On the basis of OCEAN traits:
Overcontrolled type: neuroticism &
introversion (high N & low E);
Undercontrolled type: low
agreeableness and conscientiousness
(low A & C);
Resilient type: extraversion,
agreeableness, conscientiousness &
low neuroticism (high E, A, C & low N).
The history of well-known tests
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1905: Binet & Simon – the first intelligence
scale
1906: Heymans & Wiersma – the first
personality assessment (peer-rating);
1917: Woodworth – the first personality
inventory (psychopathology);
1927-1934: Strong/Kuder – the first
vocational inventories;
The history of well-known tests
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1939: Wechsler – Wechsler-Bellevue
Intelligence Scale (1997 - WAIS-III);
1943: Hathaway & McKinley – Minnesota
Multiphasic Personality Inventory (1989 MMPI 2);
1949: Cattell – 16 PF (Personality Factors);
1950 - 1990 - Eysenckian inventories;
1990 – 2000 – Big Five inventories (Costa &
McCrae).
Present status of tests
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Thousands of tests in different fields (even in
Poland);
Test market: In Poland - Laboratory of Tests
from Polish Psychological Society.
Information about tests
 Standards for Educational and
Psychological Testing (1985 and 1999);
 Mental Measurements Yearbook and Test
Critiques;
Journals presenting tests (and
psychometric problems)
 Psychometrika
 Educational and Psychological
Measurement
 Applied Psychological Measurement
 Journal of Educational Measurement
 Journal of Educational Psychology
 Journal of Applied Psychology
 Personnel Psychology
 Journal of Consulting and Clinical
Psychology.
Advantages and disadvantages of
the tests
Tests „represent the best, fairest, and the
most accurate technology available for
making many important decisions about
individuals”, but at a time the
„psychological testing is highly
controversial” (Murphy & Davidshofer,
1989, p. 2).
Ethical (controversial) aspects of
testing
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The impact of testing on society (artificial or
real differences, efficiency or equity, helping
or hurting people);
Invasion of privacy (information about
private life, problem of confidentiality and
informed consent);
The fair use of tests (the equal availability of
the test material – testing disabled
examinees).