Chapter 1: Psychological Testing and Assessment
What a Test Is
•
Measurement device
– Designed to do what?
– What does it allow?
– Narrow focus
Tests
•
Psychological Tests
– Overt
– Covert
Categories of Psychological Tests
•
Ability Tests
– Achievement
– Aptitude
– Intelligence
•
Personality Tests
– Structured
– Projective
Testing and Assessment
•
WHAT IS IT?? (not a rhetorical question)
Testing and Assessment Defined
•
Testing: refers to all possible uses, applications, and underlying concepts of psychological
tests.
•
Assessment: any systematic method of obtaining evidence from tests, exams, and surveys
to draw inferences about characteristics of people, objects, or programs for a specific
purpose.
The Tools of Psychological Assessment
•
The portfolio
•
Case history data
•
Behavioral observation
•
Computers as tools
•
Other tools
Who, What and Why?
•
Who Are the Parties?
– The test developer
– The test user
– The test taker
– Society at large
•
What Types of Settings Are Assessments Conducted in and Why?
–
–
–
–
–
Educational settings
Counseling settings
Clinical settings
Business settings
Other settings
Evaluating the Quality of Tests
•
What is a “Good” Test?
– Reliability
– Validity
– Other settings
•
Reference Sources for Test Information
– Test catalogues
– Test manuals
– Journal articles
– Online and CD-Rom databases
– Other sources
•
Reference Sources for Test Information
– Test manuals
– Journal articles
– Online and CD-ROM databases
– Other sources