Module 6

MEASURING HUMAN BEHAVIOUR

Key Points

• Psychological test

• Characteristics of a good psychological test

• Difference between testing and assessment

• Classification of a test

• Uses and limitations of psychological test

• Ethical issues in psychological testing

• Report writing

I. Psychological testing/Psychometric testing

Psychological testing is the Scientific measurement or objective quantification of psychological constructs

such as traits, attributes, ability and so on. A Psychometrically sound test serves the purpose of describing,
diagnosing, classifying, evaluating, or predicting human behaviours.

Psychological tests are the basic tools that are professionally developed and used for measuring some
aspects of an individual such as intelligence, personality, aptitude, interest, attitudes and values. They aid in
making important decisions about the individuals. In the most general term up psychological test is a
standardised situation in which a person’s behaviour is sampled, observed and described. The term
psychological testing is often used interchangeably with the term psychology psychometric testing.

Psychological test - any standardised instrument, including scales and self report inventories, used to
measure behaviour or mental attributes, such as attitudes, emotional functioning, intelligence and cognitive
abilities (reasoning, comprehension, abstraction etc.), aptitudes, values, interests, and personality
characteristics. For example, a researcher might use a psychological test of emotional intelligence to
examine whether some managers make a better decisions in conflict situations than do others. Also called
psychometric test.

• Anastasi- A psychological test is essentially an objective and standardized measure of a sample behavior

II. Characteristics of a psychological test

Anastasi’s definition about psychological test draws our attention to the 3 characteristic elements of a
psychological test:

1. Objectivity –horned: It emphasise the fact that there are established scoring rule for obtaining
quantitative information from the behaviour sample. How a test is scored and how it scores are
interpreted are not based on the subjective decision of a particular examiner, but on objective
criteria of established scoring rules.
 2. Standardization: it means that the behaviour sample is obtained understand standardised
conditions. The individuals taking the psychological test are tested under essentially identical
conditions, that is, the same seating arrangements, lighting conditions, noise levels, answering the
same questions, and so on. The condition under which a test is administrated affects the behaviour
of the person taking the test. The person may give different answers to questions administrated in a
quite well-lit room than if the same test were to be administrated while the person was watching a
cricket match in the stadium. Therefore, standardization reduces the variability between subject due
to extraneous variables. Another important step in standardization of a psychological test is the
establishment of test norms.
Test norms gives us the average performance of individuals of a particular age group on a
specified test. To establish the norms, the test is administrated to a large
representative sample that is known as the standardization sample. This procedure permits the
designation of individuals position with reference to the normative or standardization sample.
3. Sample of behaviour: in a psychological test, only a sample of a person’s behaviour is tested, and
usually representative sample is tested so that we can draw inference and
hypothesis. There for, a psychological test is note an exhaustive measure, it is only a representative
sample of a measured behaviour.
4. Reliability (Test-retest, Equivalent forms, Split-half, Inter-rater reliability): the term reliability
basically means consistency. It means that when the same or similar test is administrated to the
same individual after a certain lapse of time, the scores obtained in the first and second test, that is,
in the test and retest, conditions should be more or less identical. That is why before a psychological
test is made available for general use it is thoroughly checked for its reliability. It is checked through
the following methods:
• Test-retest method: it is a way to determine reliability of a test by administrating a new
tested twice for the same subjects and correlating the 2 sets of scores.
• Equivalent forms method: it uses the test-retest approach. It uses a different but
similar test for the test and the subsequent retest. The disadvantage is the difficulty
and expanse of developing 2 separate forms.
• The split half method: it is determined by dividing the terms of a test into 2 groups and
correlating the 2 sets of scores.
5. Validity (Internal validity- Face validity, Criterion related validity, Construct validity and content
validity; External validity): it refers to the degree to which a test actually measure and what it
purpose to measure. The internal and external validity of a test are taken into consideration. There
are different types of internal validity such as face validity, criterion related validity, construct
validity, and content validity.
Validity – extent to which a test measures, and what it claims to measure. Validity refers to the
accuracy of an instrument/measurement.
Reliability – consistency of the test results. Reliability refers to the consistency of an instrument/
measurement.

Types of validity

Validity

1. Face validity
2. Content validity
3. Construct validity
 4. Criterion validity
1. Face Validity: Face Validity to the extent the test appears to measure what is to be measured. Face
validity refers to whether a test appears to be valid or not i.e., from external appearance whether
the items appear to measure the required aspect or not.
2. Content validity refers to the degree or extent to which a test consists items representing the
behaviours that the test maker wants to measure. This way, content validity refers to the extent to
which a test contains items representing the behaviour that we are going to measure. The items of
the test should include every relevant characteristic of the whole content area and objectives in
right proportion. A measurement has content validity when its items cover all aspects of the
construct being measured.
3. Content validity is the estimate of how much a measure represents every single element of a
construct. A construct is an attribute, skill, or ability that is based on established theories and exists
in the human brain. Intelligence, anxiety, and depression are all examples of constructs. Construct
validity is the degree to which a test measures the construct that it is supposed to measure.
4. Construct Validity- the extent is which the test may be said to measure a theoretical construct or
psychological variable. Construct validity defines how well a test or experiment measures up to its
claims. A test designed to measure depression must only measure that particular construct, not
closely related ideals such as anxiety or stress.
5. Criterion-related validity refers to the degree to which whether a test reflects a certain set of
abilities or accurately predict specific criterion variables.
6. Concurrent validity and predictive validity are the two types of criterion-related validity.
Concurrent validity measures the test against a benchmark test and high correlation indicates that
the test has strong criterion validity.
7. Predictive validity is a measure of how well a test predicts abilities. It involves testing a group of
subjects for a certain construct and then comparing them with results obtained at some point in
the future.

Internal validity- Internal validity is how accurate the result are.

External validity (generalization)- External validity is how accurate the result in the real world would be.

External validity is the extent to which test results apply to more than just the people in your experiment. In
other words, would test conclusions hold true for other individuals in different locations and at different
times?

External validity is related to the concept of generalization

Norms
A test must also be guided by certain norms. Norms refer to the average performance of a representative
sample on a given test. There are four common type of norms – age norms, grade norms, percentile norms
and standard score norms. Depending upon the purpose and use, a test constructor prepares any of these
norms for his test. Norms help in interpretation of the scores. In the absence of norms, no meaning can be
added to the score obtained on the test.

III. Difference between psychological tests and assessment

Testing is the process of measuring variables by means of devices or procedures designed to obtain a sample
behaviour an individual. Assessment is the gathering and integration of data for purpose of making an
evaluation, which is accomplished through the use of tools such as tests, interviews, case studies, behavioral
observation, and specially designed apparatus and measurement procedures.
 Psychological tests Assessments
• These are different tools of evaluation • It encompasses different methods
• They have a much narrower scope as [including the psychological tests] used for
compared to assessment as they are making relevant observations about the
concerned only with the process of individuals.
administrating, scoring, and interpreting • In assessment, the decision, prediction, or
psychological tests. Any decisions or both are made on the basis of many
predictions or both are made solely and sources of data.
largely based on the test score. • In assessment, the objective extends
• The objective of this tests is to measure the beyond obtaining a numerical number and
magnitude of some psychological trait. For the aim is to reflect the strength or absence
example, the purpose of intelligence test is of some psychological trait in an individual.
to obtain a numerical gauge of examinees • Assessment is often far more interested in
intelligence how the individual process information
• Psychological tests usually add up the rather than merely looking at the result.
number of correct answers or the number
of certain types of responses or
performance with little regard for the ‘how’
of arriving at such answers.

IV. Classification of psychological tests

A common way of classifying psychological test is to sort them into 3 categories. They are as follows:

1. The test is in which the subject is asked to answer multiple choice questions, write essays, or
manipulate images on computer screens. In short, they are required to perform a given task.
2. The subject is not asked to perform any specific task, instead of the examiner observe the subjects
behaviour in a given situation.
3. Another way of collecting information about subject is to ask the subject a directly give a report of
their feelings, attitudes, interest, and the like. This is known as the self report Measure.

The tests that require a subject to answer question and perform a given task and again be classified into 2
different ways. They can be classified on the basis of [1] The manner in which they are administrated and [2]
On the ability they are designed to measure.

1. When the psychological tests are classified on the basis of manner in which they are administrated,
the test can be classified as follows:
▪ Individual or group tests: individual tests are those tests in which the examiner or the test
administrator give the test to one person at a time. And in a group test, a single examiner
administers the test to more than one individual at a time.
▪ Performance and verbal tests: different materials is used in psychological testing. It may
comprise of paper and pencil tests, questionnaires, certain apparatus, and testing
instruments. Performance test requires the subject to just follow instruction and
manipulated a given material, or perform a certain task, while verbal test requires the
individual to copy or draw pictures and geometric designs, or to right answers for certain
questions.
▪ Speed or power tests: it determines whether any time constraints are built into the test or
not. The speed tests is contain many items that need to be completed within a strict
deadline, while the power test are not time bound.
 ▪ Objective or non-objective test: certain tests comes with a fully specified scoring procedure
to grade them. This procedure ensures that irrespective of who grades the test, the same
score will be obtained for a particular set of answers. When no standardised scoring
procedure is available to grade a test, such tests are described as non-objective tests.
▪ Standardised vs non standardised test: the objective scoring of tests form the basis for
classifying a test as a standardised test, and the non-objective scoring tests are described as
non-standardised tests.
▪ Computerized tests: the other types of tests that one comes across are the computerized
tests. Computerized the tests make interpretation, analysis, and comparing of worst amount
of data very easily.
2. When the tests are classified on the basis of abilities they are designed to measure, they are
classified as follows:
▪ Intelligence test: these tests are used to measure the potential of an individual to solve
problems, adapt to changes, think abstractly, and profit from experience.
▪ Interest tests: these tests are designed to assess a person’s interest and preferences,
and these findings can be used as a base for providing career counselling. However, it
has to be understood that taking up a career in the area of one’s interest would not
guarantee success. Similarly, it is very easy to fake one’s responses on these tests and,
therefore, these tests cannot be relied on to select people for jobs. Some examples of
interested tests are the Strong Interest Inventory and Kuder Occupational Interest
Survey.
▪ Aptitude test: these tests are often used to measure specific abilities such as
mechanical or clerical skills. The responses on these tests reflect a person’s aptitude.
▪ Personality tests: these tests are used for the assessment of overt and covert
disposition of an individual. Personality tests are basically of 2 types, structured
personality tests and projective personality tests. Structured personality tests are
usually the self-report variety, wherein an individual chooses between two or more
alternative responses to a given statement. The projective tests, on the other hand, are
unstructured and an individual is engaged to give spontaneous interpretations to the
given ambiguous stimuli. It is assumed that this spontaneous interpretation reflects a
person’s unique characteristics.

Apart from the tests that are used for measuring various abilities of an individual, there are tests that are
used to study values, tests for special population, and other measures that are used in clinical and
neurological assessment.

V. Uses of psychological tests

Psychological tests are used for variety of purpose that can be broadly categorised as educational testing,
personal testing, and clinical testing.

Psychological tests proved to be beneficial for hiring of personnel. The results of the psychological tests
proved to be helpful for assigning people to different jobs. In short, it can be said that the tests are used for
hiring and firing of personnel at different level of organization. Psychological testing is used in the selection
and classification of military personnel.

The field of guidance and counselling really heavily on the psychological tests. Any individuals is guided and
counselled with regard to their educational and vocational plans on the basis of these test results. In
addition, these tests are often made use of to enhance the self-understanding and personal development of
individuals.
Educational institutions use psychological tests for admissions and advancement of students.

Psychological tests are used for a variety of purposes by the educationalists, psychologists, clinicians, and
many others. The psychological tests are use also used for scientific inquiry and for understanding oneself.

Psychologists have come up with a number of measuring tools and have modified existing ones from time to
time for use in psychological testing and assessment. Psychologists are describing newer techniques to
access people with disabilities and other special populations.

Psychological tests are widely used for many purposes. It is very convenient to distinguish the following 5
uses of the test:

1. In classification: psychological tests are popularly used in making classification of persons, that is, for
assigning the persons to one category rather than to another one. There are different types of
classification, each one giving emphasis upon a particular purpose in assigning persons to categories.
Important types of categories are placement, screening, certification and selection, where
psychological test plays a significant role in each of these types.
2. In diagnosis and planning for treatment: psychological tests play a significant role in making
diagnosis and in planning for treatment. Diagnosis means determining the nature of a person
abnormal behaviour and classifying the behaviour pattern within an accepted system.
3. In self-knowledge: psychological tests are also useful in providing self-knowledge to the test takers
to the extent that such knowledge tends to change their career path. Every administration of a
psychological test gives a feedback to the test taker regarding the level of trait/ability being
assessed.
4. In evaluation of programs: psychological tests are often used in evaluation of various types of
educational and social programs. In schools and colleges, different types of programs for betterment
of academic achievement are carried out and the persons want to know about its impact. Such
impacts are easily assessed with the help of various types of achievement and intelligence tests.
5. In theoretical and applied branches of behavioral research: psychological tests are very useful in
research. They are frequently used in both theoretical and applied researches. With the help of such
tests, psychologists frequently investigate theoretical matters that have no immediate or obvious
practical applications.

Limitations
Despite its various uses, psychological tests are not without limitations. Some of the important limitations
are as under:

i. Psychological tests represent an invasion of privacy: psychological tests may be invasion of privacy
if they are used without the permission of the testees to obtain personal and sensitive information.
ii. Psychological tests permanently categorise the persons: on the basis of performance of
psychological tests, the testees or examinees, are given certain categories like mentally retarded,
gifted, brain damaged, etc., and the authority behaves accordingly disregarding evidence of any
further change. This has a serious implication for the examinees. The examinees can definitely
change and great care should be taken in the interpretation and use of the test results.
iii. Psychological tests measure only limited and beneficial aspects of behaviour: it is said that
psychological tests cannot measure the most important human traits. They force the examinees to
take decisions based on superficial and relatively unimportant criteria.
 iv. Psychological tests create anxiety: generally, it has been reported that when they assessment is to
be done through psychological tests, the examinees feel anxious and this anxiety affect their
performances. However, examinees who are familiar with a specific type of tests are less anxious
than those who are familiar with the test contents.
v. Psychological tests penalize bright and creative examinees: psychological tests are insensitive to
atypical and creative responses. Such responses are not given much credit, thus discriminating
against the talented examinees.

VI. Ethical issues in psychological testing

Psychological testing refers to all the possible uses, applications and underlying important concepts of
psychological and educational tests. To maintain its proper uses and applications, the American
Psychological Association [APA] officially adopted a set of standards and rules in 1953 which has undergone
continual review and refinement. The major ethical and moral issues relating to psychological testing can be
described under the following 5 headings:

1. Issues of human rights: today the field of psychological testing has been heavily influenced by
recognition of various types of human rights. Among these rights is the right to not to be tested. In
fact, persons who don’t want to subject themselves to testing, should not and ethically cannot be
forced to accept this. Moreover, individuals who finally decide to subject themselves to testing, have
rights to know their test scores, their interpretations as well as the basis of any decision that effect
their lives. Likewise, these days other human rights such as the right to know who will have access to
the data of psychological testing, and the right to confidentiality of the test results are being
popularly discussed.
2. Issue of labouring: on the basis of psychological testing, a person is given certain label or diagnosed
as having a certain psychiatric disorder. This labelling has many harmful effects. Labelling will not
only stigmatize persons but it will also lower tolerance for stress and make treatment difficult. In
view of these potential negative effects and dangers of labelling, a person should have the right to
not be labelled.
3. Issues of invasion of privacy: when people respond to items of psychological tests, they have little
idea of what is being revealed by their responses but somehow, they feel that their privacy has been
invaded. Such a feeling is definitely detrimental for people. Psychological tests have very limited and
pinpointed aim and they cannot invade the privacy of the persons. Psychologists are ethically and
even legally bond to maintain confidentiality and they don’t reveal any more information about a
person than is necessary to accomplish the purpose for which the testing was started.
4. Issues of divided loyalties: this is one of the vital issues of psychological testing and still today
remains a central problem in the field of psychological testing. In fact, divided loyalty is today a
major dilemma for psychologists who use the test in different fields such as industry, schools, clinics,
government, military, and so on. A psychologist has to face a conflict, which arise when the
individual’s welfare is put at odds on the one hand and that of the institution that employs a
psychologist on the other.
5. Responsibility of test constructors and test users: ethical issues also put some responsibilities on
test constructors, or developers, and test users. In fact, the test constructor is responsible for
providing all the necessary information. Latest standards for test use state that the test constructors
must provide a test manual which may clearly state the appropriate use of the test, including data
relating to reliability, validity, and norms, clearly specify about the scoring and administration or
standards. There are some responsibilities which lie with the test users too. According to [APA]
almost any test can be useful if it is used in the right circumstances but even the best test can hurt
 the subject if it is used inappropriately. Test users must possess sufficient and adequate knowledge
to understand the basic principles underlying the test construction and supporting research of any
test they administer. At any cost, a test user cannot claim ignorance.

These ethical issues, in fact, put psychologists on vigil so that they must guard both the interest of the
test as well as the welfare of the test takers.

VII. Research Report writing

1. Definition
2. Purpose of writing a research report
3. Structure of a research report
4. Style of writing/ Formatting a research report
5. Evaluating a research report

1. Definition

Research report is a condensed form or a brief description of the research work done by the researcher.

2. Purpose of writing a research report

Research report should be written in a dignified and objective style, although there is no one such style
which is acceptable to all.

The general purpose of research report is not to convince the reader but to let them know what has
been done, why it was done, what results were obtained and what the conclusions of the researcher
were. Therefore, the research report aims at telling the readers the problems investigated, the methods
adopted, the result found and the conclusions reached.

The research report should be written in a clear and unambiguous language so that the reader can also
objectively judge the adequacy and validity of the research. For attaining objectivity, personal pronouns
such as I, you, we, my, ours, etc., should be avoided and as their substitutes, expressions like
‘investigators’, ‘researcher’ should be used. Needless to say, the highest standard of correct usage of
words and sentences is expected.

3. Structure of a research report in APA style

Title Page

What is this paper called and who wrote it? – The first page of the paper; this includes the name of the
paper, a “running head”, authors, and institutional affiliation of the authors. The institutional affiliation
is usually listed in an Author Note that is placed towards the bottom of the title page. In some cases, the
Author Note also contains an acknowledgment of any funding support and of any individuals that
assisted with the research project.

Abstract

One-paragraph summary of the entire study – typically no more than 250 words in length (and in many
cases it is well shorter than that), the Abstract provides an overview of the study.
Introduction

What is the topic and why is it worth studying? – the first major section of text in the paper, the
Introduction commonly describes the topic under investigation, summarizes or discusses relevant prior
research, identifies unresolved issues that the current research will address, and provides an overview
of the research that is to be described in greater detail in the sections to follow.

Methods

What did you do? – A section which details how the research was performed. It typically features a
description of the participants/subjects that were involved, the study design, the materials that were
used, and the study procedure. If there were multiple experiments, then each experiment may require a
separate Methods section. A rule of thumb is that the Methods section should be sufficiently detailed
for another researcher to duplicate your research.

Results

What did you find? – A section which describes the data that was collected and the results of any
statistical tests that were performed. It may also be prefaced by a description of the analysis procedure
that was used. If there were multiple experiments, then each experiment may require a separate
Results section.

Discussion

What is the significance of your results? – The final major section of text in the paper. The Discussion
commonly features a summary of the results that were obtained in the study, describes how those
results address the topic under investigation and/or the issues that the research was designed to
address, and may expand upon the implications of those findings. Limitations and directions for future
research are also commonly addressed.

References

List of articles and any books cited – an alphabetized list of the sources that are cited in the paper (by
last name of the first author of each source). Each reference should follow specific APA guidelines
regarding author names, dates, article titles, journal titles, journal volume numbers, page numbers,
book publishers, publisher locations, websites, and so on.

Tables and Figures

Graphs and data (optional in some cases) – depending on the type of research being performed, there
may be Tables and/or Figures (however, in some cases, there may be neither). In APA style, each Table
and each Figure is placed on a separate page and all Tables and Figures are included after the
References. Tables are included first, followed by Figures. However, for some journals and
undergraduate research papers, Tables and Figures may be embedded in the text (depending on the
instructor’s or editor’s policies.

Appendix

Supplementary information (optional) – in some cases, additional information that is not critical to
understanding the research paper, such as a list of experiment stimuli, details of a secondary analysis, or
programming code, is provided. This is often placed in an Appendix.
 4. Style of writing/ Formatting a research report
• APA style [7th edition]
• Dignified and objective style
• Clear and unambiguous language
• Style that is clear and concise

General rules

1. Should be written in past tense except conclusion

2. All sources- cited only the last names of the authors and the year
3. Abbreviations should be avoided
4. Direct quoting should be avoided. The idea should be paraphrased and summarized
5. Approved psychological terminology should be used
6. Use the term ‘participant’ rather than ‘subject’
7. Number between zero and nine should be written in words and numbers that are 10 and larger
should be written in digits

Formatting the paper

General formatting rules for papers written in APA style are as follows:

• Papers should have 1 inch margin on all sides. Utilise a standard 8.5 inches by 11 inches paper
• All text should be double spaced
• Times new Roman, 12 point font is preferred
• All lines should be flush left and All paragraph should be indended except for some headings and
exceptions per APA’s publication manual
• Pages should be numbered at the top right
• A running head should be at the top left
• Words should not be split at the end of the line

5. Evaluating a research report

For making a critical evaluation of a research report, the following questions may be raised:

• Whether the title is clear full?

• Whether the problem is clearly started?
• Whether the review of literature will cover the area?
• Whether the method is appropriate?
• Whether the result and discussion is appropriate?
• Whether the summary and conclusion is concisely reported?