Psychological Testing: History, Principles and Applications

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Norms and Test Reliability

Psychological test norms have proved to be of invaluable use to human society since the inception of scholarly civilization, giving tools for measuring aptitudes, skills, knowledge, capacities, intelligence, and abilities in a variety of social settings, Outmoded and outdated norms involve thematic apperception test, clinical and IQ tests.

Raw scores are primarily the first-hand statistical outcomes from a surveyed sample. For instance, in determining the IQ of a student, a summative or formative test must be administered.

Once the raw data has been obtained, it should be standardized to respective psychological measures using the relevant statistical tool. Thus, measures of central tendency: mean, mode, and median and measures of dispersion; range, quartiles, percentiles, variance, and standard deviation should be considered in standardizing and analysis of the sample. Not to mention the inestimable need for graphical representation and analysis of the data.

Thus, a set of raw data can be expressed in score form, which is then standardized into such standard scores as Z-score, T-score, scaled scores, and IQ scores, the central objective being to give an effective and meaningful description of the samples in the distribution. These standardized scores are fixed interval scales of measurement, which give a clear view of how the data is spread.

Due to the complexity of data collection, various measurement errors compromise the reliability of the raw data, resulting in biased and distorted conclusions. An approximation of the error size should therefore be considered during the evaluative phase of psychological testing. The key sources of measurement errors are; coverage, scoring, non-response, and computational errors

It is thus crucial to correct empirical outcomes to accommodate the distortions arising from inaccurate measurement. Thus, appropriate correlation coefficients should be computed to estimate the corresponding reliability coefficient. Thus, the reliability coefficient would be a relative expression of the internal consistencies and temporal stabilities of the sample in question. Of another importance still is the act of relating the reliability coefficient to the standard error of measurement, which aids in the statistical interpretation of the psychological computation (Gregory, 2007, p.76- 119).

Validity and Test Development

Psychological research is the only effective authentication of test validity. Through keen scholarly observation and data collection, psychological research can demystify many concepts of the world around us and aid us in foreseeing subsequent behaviors and events. The universally accepted structured approach of data collection and analysis s qualifies research outcomes based on their authenticity. Thus psychological research can be used as a tool for ensuring that proper checks and balances are maintained in every psychological hypothesis.

Validity is the honesty of the response given in a particular survey, readily response may lack in some cases, or the target sample may give false responses. With a holistic perspective, test validity may be extended to the targeted research area, techniques, method etcetera. If the area under study measures the initial hypothesis then the test is valid. Thus, content validity is central to the authenticity of the psychological trend to be tested. Criterion-related validity ensures that the most appropriate psychological research approaches, instruments, strategies, and techniques are perfectly adhered to during the actual phase of data collection.

This underscores the importance of designing an effective and realistic validity test for psychological research. The research test should then be constructed by formulating a comprehensive, realistic, and measurable research hypothesis. Having defined the test, one should select and evaluate scales for use in psychological research. Considering the strengths and weaknesses of the various methods of scale construction such as representative scaling, rank-order scaling, Thurston scaling, Q-sort scaling, among others. The follows the delicate yet involving task of construction of valid and reliable psychological test items through defining the domain of the test item, validating the item, pilot testing the item, revising the test, and publishing the test. It is necessary to realize that for one to develop a good test item one would require a sample of experts in the area of interest, a sample of targeted subjects to carry your test on, and a sample of objects on which to norm your test (Gregory, 2007, p. 119-162).

Intelligence Testing 1; Theories and Preschool Assessment

As the primary objective of the trio-faceted objectives of early childhood education (caring, educating, and teaching children from birth to seven years of age), is inculcating knowledge to the young ones. The progressive acquisition of knowledge upgrades the pupil’s intelligence There has been an enduring debate about the nature and definition of intelligence and no generally approved definition has been adopted, but in this article, I would define intelligence as the best expression of one’s aptitudes, achievements and ability to adapt in all aspects of life, therefore learning and adaptation are the main functions of intelligence.

Due to the diversity of a variety of perspectives with which we can describe intelligence, the following is an overview of some of the theoretical postulates which try to demystify intelligence. The general intelligence theory; based on numerical scores obtained from a factor analysis test, which did show the general intelligence dispositions of the students. Primary cognitive abilities theory, on the other hand, considers specific mental abilities such as reasoning, computation skill, memory, spatial perception, linguistic fluency, and comprehension. The multiple intelligences theory highlights a broad spectrum of intelligence ranging from logical-mathematical intelligence, through linguistic intelligence to bodily-kinesthetic intelligence.

This underscores the need to continuously assess infant and preschool abilities in an educational setting. Studies have generally shown an impressive positive correlation between infant test scores as opposed to childhood ones. One also needs to be conscious of such affective factors as the child’s natural endowments, cultural experiences, and demographic information, not overlooking the young child’s traits when administering an assessment, for they are hyperactive and have a short attention span. Infant and preschool assessment serves a practical function upon continuous administration of these varied tests, which establishes a concrete foundation for precise predictions of the child’s intelligence level in later years. Although the predictive validity of infant tests is reduced by their varied rates of development, of great essence is the fact that their Intelligence Quotient is relatively steady, forming a firm basis of predictive validity (Gregory, 2007, p. 163- 230).

Intelligence Testing 2; Individual and Group Tests

Individual intelligence tests have taken a new dimension, with their orientations varying commensurate to the different areas of application, for instance, in medicine neuropsychological testing is done to gauge the brain functions of patients. Wechsler Scales of Intelligence are universally employed in various intelligence assessment situations. Wechsler Intelligence Scales are a compact series of standardized tests that can be utilized in the evaluation of mental and intellectual potentials in persons of all age groups.

The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scales-III (WAIS-III) is employed in establishing and analyzing the adult’s professional/occupational ability and in assessing adult cognitive ability – from age 16 onwards. Every WAIS-III scale comprises of six verbal and five non-verbal subsets. With the entire test-taking one to one and half an hour to administer. Performance and verbal IQs are scored concerning the outcomes of the testing, and then the main IQ is calculated. The eleven subsets include vocabulary, arithmetic, information, similarities, picture arrangement, picture completion, and digit span, block design, digit symbol, comprehension, and object assembly.

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III (WISC-III) targets children aged 6 years to about seventeen years. The new version of the WISC-III consists of 13 subsets and takes between fifty to seventy-five minutes to administer. The WISC-III was formulated to assess a child’s intelligence, as evident in both verbal and performance abilities. In the classroom situation, WISC can be used to identify gifted pupils, pupils with developmental handicaps, and mentally retarded pupils.

WIS are limited in their scope, in that they are inadequate in the measurement of extreme intelligence- IQ scores which are over 160 and those under 40. Group tests are also taken, and they include but not limited to; multidimensional aptitude battery (MAB), Shipley Institute of living scale (SILS), and multilevel battery: the cognitive abilities test (Gregory, 2007, p. 232-295).

Test bias and Testing Special Populations

The testing of special populations entails the identification of the necessary measures for a specific special item given the legal structure of monitoring individuals with disabilities. Such special cases as those of the mentally retarded, visually impaired, the deaf, the physically challenged, and the victims of cerebral palsy, to mention but a few, may call for varied modes of psychological tastings with extreme cases demanding the non-language tests, motor-reduced, and non-reading tests.

For instance, the aforementioned physical disabilities can limit the person’s performance on a standardized psychological test. Nonetheless, accommodation and modification of the tests need to be embraced, by improvising alternative test modes when the aim of the evaluation is independent of the physical challenge. Accommodation entails altering test identification and selection, implementation and response format, and the test progress timings. It is best illustrated by the compelling need to carry a continuous assessment of the progress of mentally retarded persons as relates to their adaptive behavior.

With this broad spectrum of varied physical, mental, emotional, social, cultural, and racial endowments and limitations, of necessity, therefore, is the need to consider the issue of test bias in a bid to standardize, validate and authenticate the test outcomes. Test fairness and social values perspectives should thus be critically harnessed in addressing unfair bias evident in those tests which are of relatively equal validity for a certain set of groups. For instance, the extent to which a person’s environmental and genetic endowments input to their intelligence constitution, the alternating changes in one’s intelligence as influenced by the age factor, and changes in intelligence test scores as analyzed on the generational scale.

Genetic and racial intellectual endowments account for the striking variation of IQ tests between varied racial groups, best illustrated in a US psychological study where generally the IQ of African American’s is relatively lower than that of the White American’s (Gregory, 2007, p. 295- 340).

Group Tests of Aptitude and Achievement

In carrying out a group test of aptitude and achievement, such mathematical tools as the primer of factor analysis and multiple-aptitude test batteries are employed. The primer of factor analysis, for instance, comprises of two main statistical approaches; the explanatory and the confirmatory factor analysis which establish the internal reliability of a measure by either fixing orthogonal or uncorrelated factors.

Group aptitude tests and achievement tests mostly find their application in institutions of learning, for instance, in the postgraduate selection of students the approach of multiple-aptitude test batteries is extensively harnessed and previous group tests may be analyzed for precise predictions on institutional performance.

Group tests of achievement are also central to determining an institution’s academic standing, and they prove to be an indispensable tool for comparing the effectiveness of a certain set of educational institutions. This, therefore, underscores the urgent need of abolishing cheating in all aspects of achievement testing, for it adversely compromises the validity of the test outcomes. Given special populations within an educational setting, special purpose achievement tests should be drawn for them to accommodate them (Gregory, 2007, p. 340- 376).

Neuropsychological and Geriatric Assessment

Neuropsychological tests are aimed at establishing brain-behavior functions in demystifying human psychological malfunctions, looking at the initial beginnings of the learning process and motivation in the brain. This calls for a thorough understanding of the anatomy of the brain and the specific functions of every brain component. Of particular importance are the function of the cerebral lobes and the specialized function of the right hemisphere of the brain.

Brain anatomy is realized through clinical tests employing brain imaging techniques, such as radiology, endoscopy, nuclear medicine, microscopy, and thermograph. The magnetic resonance imaging instrument (MRI Scanner) is of particular importance for it is primarily used in brain imaging.

Neuropsychological techniques thus help in availing the relevant information about the brain, which aids in developing a conceptualized model of brain-behavior relationships. Thus one’s sensory input, language functions, spatial and manipulative ability, attention and concentration, learning and memory, and motor output can be measured.

Neuropsychological assessment test batteries should be observed with care; ensuring that a good and conducive testing environment is availed, each test tool should be administered within the prescribed time frame. The test assessments should also be inclusive of all age groups from the pediatric tests to the assessment of the mental status of the elderly (Gregory, 2007, p. 377-439).

Special settings for psychological assessment

One of the special settings for psychological assessment in school-based institutions is the screening for school readiness; this is best exemplified in evaluating the intellectual status of preschool children. A test battery in learning disability assessment is employed to evaluate the child’s learning disabilities and related disorders.

The other main area for psychological assessment in school-based institutions is the testing for giftedness, in which a child’s inherent talent is identified, tapped, and developed. This is accomplished through the administration of extra challenging tasks and tests until the degree of such a gift is established.

There is a broad spectrum of extensive and forensic areas of application for psychological assessment, for instance, the acceptability of expert witnesses’ testimony in US federal legal processes is largely dependent on meeting a set of standardized rules of evidence. Thus an expert witness can only testify if; the testimony is built upon empirical data or facts, was arrived at through reliable methods, and if the witness applies the methods reliably to the case’s data.

Other platforms in which psychological assessment has proved to be of invaluable worth are in evaluating suspected malingering, assessing the mental status for an insanity plea, establishing one’s competency to stand trial, violence prediction and risk assessment, evaluating child custody in divorce cases, an inquiry into personal injury and related testimonies and in the interpretation of polygraph records (Gregory, 2007, p. 440- 495).

Industrial and Organizational Assessment

Industrial and organizational assessment is crucial in selecting the best-qualified personnel for a specific post, therefore, industrial and organizational psychologists have developed a structured framework for personnel assessment and selection. This aids in measuring prospective personnel’s’ individual differences and posting them into such posts as befits their productivity.

Personnel Assessment and selection tests are varied and may be applied in concordance with the nature of the job, such tests include, autobiographical data analysis, employment interviews, cognitive ability tests, personality and temperament tests, paper and pencil integrity exercises, measurement of psychomotor skills and work sample exercises. The information thus collected about the job and the prospective candidate is analyzed to help the company identify the candidate who is most qualified for the job.

Along with the same domain also, is the appraisal of work performance in which case an eye is kept on job incumbents and their superiors through surveys and interviews. This task is aimed at establishing personnel characteristics (skills, abilities, and knowledge) in a bid to identify proficient personnel deserving promotions, inefficient personnel requiring in-service training, and those who post which need placement.

In these exercises, the function of the performance appraisal should be stipulated enhancing an informed selection of the most appropriate approach in carrying out the performance appraisal. The legal issues in the I/O assessment should also be observed to ensure a fair and valid outcome of the appraisal with minimum errors (Gregory, 2007, p. 495-559).

Attitudes, Interests, and Values Assessment

The assessment of life values is central to facilitating self-awareness; it primarily involves keeping inventories for personal interest assessment. This heightens one’s self-esteem in intra-social as well as inter-social interactions- an indispensable tool for self-actualization. An individual’s interests, values, preferences, tastes, and dispositions are a good reflection of one’s inherent talents and endowments which greatly affect the type of vocation one may take in the future.

Occupationally oriented aptitude test, in essence, identifies what one has learned and what he/she can learn and do. This information helps one in evaluating various types of vocations and in testing the suitability of decisions arrived at. The integrative model of career assessment on the other hand stimulates interest in areas that were not initially considered and evaluates the viability of vocation change.

Given the close correlation between one’s interests and values with one’s moral and spiritual standing, of necessity, therefore, is the assessment of these moral and spiritual judgments for self-awareness. The assessment of spiritual and religious concepts does not involve value judgment, but rather an inquiry into the role of spirituality and religion in day-to-day situations (Gregory, 2007, p. 560- 600).

Origins of Personality Testing

One’s personality involves a variety of all the attributes – emotional, behavioral, mental, and temperamental –that distinguish one’s uniqueness. Such psychoanalytic theories of personality as ‘the conscious and unconscious mind’ and ‘the Id, ego and superego’ by Sigmund Freud and Anna Freud underscore the various components and elements which affect our behavior, even without our awareness.

The phenomenological theory of personality proposes that individuals are innately driven to realize goodness, creativity, and love; that self-actualization is the trigger for one’s motivation towards the exploitation of one’s full potential. Thus one harnesses his/her inherent resources to meet deficiency orientations for self-satisfaction.

The behaviorist theory of personality asserts that one’s personality is the product of acquired behavior through conditioning which is reinforced by either punishment or rewards, thus the learning environment is of great essence in modeling one’s character.

Sex and aggression are generally considered to be the main motivating factors- inherent in one’s unconscious mind- influencing human behavior. Thus in cases of negative and embarrassing behavior, individuals employ a characteristic defense mechanism of projection in a bid to rationalize the problem. Other projective techniques influencing one’s personality involve; association, completion, construction, and expression techniques (Gregory, 2007, p. 601- 634).

Structured Personality Assessment

A self-report inventory is a psychological assessment which is primarily used in personality evaluation. The assessment centers on past and present behavioral dispositions, in a bid to synthesize- through analysis a recurrent behavior, sufficient for foreseeing future behavioral inclinations.

Theory-guided inventories, for instance, cover a broad spectrum of personal issues, involving but not limited to one’s; psychological standing, abnormal behaviors, inter-, and intra-personal relationships, sexual and spiritual attitudes. Theory-guided inventoried are firmly anchored upon theoretical concepts influencing one’s personality.

The other main types of self-inventories addressed by Gregory Robert are factor-analytically derived inventories and criterion-keyed inventories.

The second component of structured personality assessment analyzed by Gregory Robert is the behavioral assessment and related approaches which encompass the foundations of behavior therapy, the assessment of nonverbal behavior, and ecological momentary assessments. These behavioral assessments are geared towards the gathering of information to hypothesize the variables maintaining a certain referent behavior (Gregory, 2007, p. 635-659).

Special Topics and Issues in Testing

Currently, the process of implementing psychological tests has taken a new dimension, with heightened technological developments; computers have increasingly become a tool for implementing psychological tests. Initially, computerized tests were restricted to recruitment processes for identifying suitable personnel; typing speed, knowhow in word processing, and spreadsheet proficiency was the center of the tests. Nonetheless, at the present moment, computers are proving to be indispensable for specialists as psychiatrists, psychologist, and counselors; in that they aid in the synthesis, administration, analysis, and scoring of various tests.

Gregory Robert has established the rationale for professional testing standards and he has emphatically given an exposition on the ethical and social considerations for computerized assessments and testing. He points to the emerging ethical concerns and the prevailing ethical checks and balances, for instance, the responsibilities which test publisher and test users must bear. He recommends practical ways of ensuring professional confidentiality and responsibility in computerized testing. He also highlights specific areas best suited for computerized assessment; such as test scores and analyzing the test scores. He also advocates for the testing of cultural and linguistic minorities (Gregory, 2007, p. 660- 687).

Reference List

Gregory, R, (2007). Psychological Testing: History, Principles, and Applications. 5^th Edition, California. Allyn & Bacon.

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