Applications in Clinical and Counseling Settings Thursday, 11 May 2023 2:09 am Strategies of Structured Personality Test Construction S Logical-content ,also called Content approach Intuitive approach Rational approach Deductive Theoretical Criterion-group, also called Deductive Contrasted-group method External strategy Empirical strategy Criterion -keying method Factor analytic Deductive Strategies -use reason and deductive logic to determine the meaning of a test response. The logical-content method has test designers select items on the basis of simple face validity; in the theoretical approach, test construction is guided by a particular psychological theory Logical-Content Strategy Personality measures are developed using reason and deductive logic Test designer tries to determine the type of content needed to measure the characteristic being assessed Assumes that a test item accurately describes the subject’s personality and behavior Logical-content strategy was the basis of initial efforts to assess personality Theoretical Strategy Begins with a theory about the nature of personality characteristics to be assessed Items deduced to be important for measurement must be consistent with this theory First uses a homogenous scale, and then may use various statistical procedures Empirical Strategies - rely on data collection and statistical analyses to determine the meaning of a test response or the nature of personality and psychopathology. -attempt to use experimental research to determine empirically the meaning of a test response, the major dimensions of personality, or both. Criterion-Group Strategy These approaches rely on data collection and statistical analysis A criterion group, or a collection of individuals with a common feature, is distinguished from a control group Control group represents the larger population from which the criterion group was drawn Scale is developed and cross-validated to distinguish independent criterion sample from the control group Then research is conducted to see how to interpret when subjects selecta large number of items on a given scale Factor Analytic Strategy The goal is to identify the basic factors of personality Factor analysis reduces items to common factors Intercorrelations between a large number of items or tests are sought What is indicated when those correlations are high or low? How can this help identify personality factors? The Logical-Content Strategy Woodworth Personal Data Sheet Very first personality inventory, was developed during World War I Was designed to identify recruits who would break down in combat Was a “paper and pencil psychiatric interview” Had a technique for reducing false positive Included items found twice as often in previously diagnosed neurotics Success of this measure led to the development of several other structured tests for assessing personality New Section 1 Page 1 Success of this measure led to the development of several other structured tests for assessing personality characteristics Early Multidimensional Logical-Content Scales Bell Adjustment Inventory ▪ Assessed adjustment in a variety of areas, including home and social life and emotional functioning Bernreuter Personality Inventory ▪ Evaluated six personality traits in subjects as young as 13 years of age Mooney Problem Checklist One of few modern tests still employing the logical-content approach First published in 1950 A list of problems found in clinical case histories and reported by high-school students If someone checks a large number of items, he or she is assumed to have difficulties Criticisms of Logical- Content Approach Criterion-Group Strategy Assumption of face validity People may be unable to accurately evaluate their own situations or problems Self-interpretations may differ from those that come from another person administering a test The larger assumption of the utility of face validity became so widely criticized that the entire logical-content approach was eventually discarded Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory The MMPI is a true/false self-report inventory Three scales ▪ Validity scales guard against various forms of dishonest responding ▪ Clinical scales help identify psychological disorders ▪ Content scales are related to specific content areas (e.g., anger) Purpose ▪ Distinguishes between normal and non-normal groups ▪ Originally designed to assist with diagnosis ▪ Require minimum reading level to be useful Original Development of the Scales ▪ Began with 1000 items that were reduced to 504 ▪ Reduced to eight different diagnostic criterion groups (Table 13.1: ◊ Those who were attached to each criterion group were compared to a control group. That control group was criticized for being non-representative of general population ◊ Two content groups—masculinity/femininity and social-introversion—were added ◊ Validity scales—(L)ie scale, K scale, and in(F)requency scale (Table 13.2: Original Validity Scales of MMPI) Initial Interpretations T scores were calculated for each scale with a mean of 50 and standard deviation of 10 Scores above 70 on MMPI and 65 on MMPI-2 are significant elevations New Section 1 Page 2 Scores above 70 on MMPI and 65 on MMPI-2 are significant elevations Original MMPI failed to adequately distinguish a majority of those with a psychiatric diagnosis on the associated clinical scale, and many had multiple scale elevations Pattern (configural) analysis was eventually employed, but was ultimately not Successful Meehl's Extension of the Empirical Approach Two-point code approach—analyzing the two highest clinical elevations when more than two occur New criterion groups were established based on similarities in MMPI profiles Criterion-group strategy versus contrasted-group strategy Suggested changing the names of certain scales and adding numbers to them— people became identified by a numerical MMPI code rather than the names of the scales on which they showed elevations (Table 13.3: An MMPI-2 profile sheet) > New Section 1 Page 3
