Psychological Testing

Recall

This test is catered to individual who are

illiterate during the WWI?
Recall
Mr. Maggay the Social Work Development
officer administered a psychological test to
300 OSY. After knowing their scores Mr.
Maggay assigned the 300 OSY into several
groups based on the needs revealed by their
scores in the test.
Recall

Diagnosis is more than mere classification.

Recall
Planning Treatment

How is assessment or testing use in counseling?

For This Meeting:
1. What is psychological testing and psychological test?

2. Sources of information about a psychological test?

3. Qualities of a good test.

4. Simple demonstration of test administration.

What is Psychological Testing?
 Psychological Testing

 the measuring of psychology-related variables by means of

devices or procedures designed to obtain samples of behaviors.

 Refers to the administration of a

test to the interpretation of a test
score.
What is a Psychological Test ?
 What is a Psychological Test ?

*Refers to device or procedure designed to

measure variables related to psychology.

 A test can be described as an objective,

systematic and standardised measure of a
sample of behaviour.
Where can we find information about a psychological
test?
 Evaluating the Quality of Tests

Reference Sources for Test Information

 Test catalogues
 Test manuals
 Journal articles
 Online and CD-Rom databases
 Other sources
Buros Mental Measurement Yearbook
 Evaluating the Quality of Tests

Reference Sources for Test Information

 Test catalogues
-most accessible source of information.
-distributed by the developer of the test.
-usually contain only brief description of the test.
 Evaluating the Quality of Tests

Reference Sources for Test Information

 Test manuals
-detailed information regarding how the test developed
and technical information.
 Evaluating the Quality of Tests

Reference Sources for Test Information

 Journal articles
-contains reviews of the test.
-validation of test.
-how the instrument was used in a research.
*APA Journal
*Philippine Journal of Psychology
 Evaluating the Quality of Tests

Reference Sources for Test Information

 Online and CD-ROM databases
-databases for test related publications.
Ex. -PsycINFO
-ClinPSYC
-PsycSCAN
-PsychARTICLES.

*Educational Testing Service (ETS)

 Evaluating the Quality of Tests

Reference Sources for Test Information

• Buros Mental Measurement Yearbook
-comprehensive compilation of test reviews.
-Buros Center for Testing – University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Evaluating The Quality of a Test:

What makes a Good Test?

Evaluating The Quality of a Test:
What is a “Good” Test? (Test Worthiness)

 Standardized
 Objective
 Reliable
 Valid
 Norms or Standards
Evaluating The Quality of a Test:
What is a “Good” Test? (Test Worthiness)

 Objective
– scoring must be free of bias.
-a type of instrument consisting of a set of items or questions
that have specific correct answers (APA Dictionary)
Evaluating The Quality of a Test:
What is a “Good” Test? (Test Worthiness)

 Reliability
- consistency of results.
- consistency of measurement.

 Reliability coefficient
-an index of reliability.
Evaluating The Quality of a Test:
What is a “Good” Test? (Test Worthiness)

 Validity
-a judgment or estimate of how well a test measures what it
purports to measure in a particular context.
 Reliability & Validity

A reliable measurement is A valid measurement is generally

not always valid: the results reliable: if a test produces
might be reproducible, but accurate results, they should be
they’re not necessarily reproducible.
correct.
 Evaluating The Quality of a Test:
What is a “Good” Test? (Test Worthiness)

 Norms or Standards
-examinee is compared to a Group or a Criterion.

Norms- are the test performance data of a particular group of test

takers that are designed for use as a reference when
evaluating or interpreting individual test scores.
Evaluating The Quality of a Test:
What is a “Good” Test? (Test Worthiness)

 Standardization – consistency and uniformity of conditions and

procedures in administration.

 Standardized Test
-is a test that is administered and scored in a consistent, or
standard, manner.
Test Demonstration
Reading assignment for next meeting
Principle Types of Psychological Tests
A reliable measurement is not always
valid.
What makes a psychological test an
objective test?
What information you can see in the
test manuals?
Principle Types of Psychological Tests
Principle Types of Psychological Tests
Mental Ability Tests
 Intelligence tests
 Aptitude tests
 Achievement tests

Personality Tests
 Measure traits, motives, interests, values, and
attitudes.
Principle Types of Psychological Tests

Mental Ability Tests

Includes three subcategories.
Intelligence tests
Aptitude tests
Achievement tests
Principle Types of Psychological Tests
Intelligence Tests
 Measure general mental abilities. They are intended to measure
intellectual potential.
 Measure an individual’s ability in relatively global areas such as
verbal comprehension, perceptual organization, or reasoning and
thereby help determine potential for scholastic work or certain
occupations.
 The term intelligence test refers to a test that yields an overall
summary score based on results from a heterogeneous sample of
items.
Principle Types of Psychological Tests
Intelligence Tests
 Emily is four years old. Her big sister Amy is three times as old
as Emily. How old will Amy be when she is twice as old as
Emily?
 WOLF is to FLOW as 8526 is to: 2856 - 6258 - 5862 - 5682 –
6852
 Hanger is to closet as tree is to: Branch - Bushes - Forest -
Ground - Nest
 What would be the next number in this series? 15 ... 12 ... 13 ...
10 ... 11 ... 8 ... ?
Principle Types of Psychological Tests
Aptitude Tests
 Assess talent for specific kinds of learning. (clerical speed,
mechanical reasoning, etc.)
 Measure the capability for a relatively specific task or type of
skill; aptitude tests are, in effect, a narrow form of ability
testing.
 Aptitude tests are often used to predict success in an
occupation, training course, or educational endeavor, such as
Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT).
Principle Types of Psychological Tests
Achievement Tests
 Measure a person’s degree of learning, success, or
accomplishment in a subject or task.

 One instrument may serve both purposes, acting as an

aptitude test to forecast future performance and an
achievement test to monitor past learning.
Principle Types of Psychological Tests
Achievement Tests
 Who was the 13th President of the Philippines?
 What is 5x6 divided by 2?
 How many branches of Government exist in the U.S.?
Principle Types of Psychological Tests
Creativity Tests
 Assess novel, original thinking and the capacity to find unusual
or unexpected solutions, especially for vaguely defined
problems.

 Educators were especially impressed that creativity tests

required divergent thinking—putting forth a variety of answers
to a complex or fuzzy problem—as opposed to convergent
thinking—finding the single correct solution to a well-defined
problem.
Principle Types of Psychological Tests
Creativity Tests
 The Candle Problem
a book or box of matches.
a box of thumbtacks.
Principle Types of Psychological Tests
Personality Tests
 Measure the traits, qualities, or behaviors that determine a
person’s individuality including motives, interests, values, and
attitudes.
 Personality tests include checklists, inventories, and projective
techniques.
 Maybe multidimensional or unidimensional.
Principle Types of Psychological Tests

Behavioral Procedures
 Objectively describe and count the frequency of a behavior,
identifying the antecedents and consequences of the
behavior.

 The assumption is that behavior is best understood in terms

of clearly defined characteristics such as frequency, duration,
antecedents, and consequences.
Other Terms in Classifying Types of Test
 Other Terms in Classifying Types of Test

*Administration: Individual vs. Group

*Time: Speed Test vs. Power Test

Speed Test – designed to measure the speed or rate of
performance, rather than acquisition or mastery of
knowledge. Includes easy items in limited time to
answer.
 Other Terms in Classifying Types of Test

*Time: Speed Test vs. Power Test

Power Test – designed to measure the knowledge of
the test taker, regardless of his speed of
performance. Includes items with varying
degrees of difficulty in an open time to
answer.
 Other Terms in Classifying Types of Test

*Item Type: Objective vs. Essay.

Objectives are MC, MT, FIB, Identification, T or F

*Item Type: Selection vs. Free-response.

*Item Stem: Statement vs. Question.

*Test Content: verbal, non-verbal, performance.

 Other Terms in Classifying Types of Test

*Time allotment: Timed vs. untimed

Fixed time vs. open

*Interpretation: Norm vs. Criterion

*Use: Diagnosis, Classification

*Answer format: Paper and pencil vs. computer

 Other Terms in Classifying Types of Test

Structured personality test.

Projective personality test

What Types of Settings Are Assessments & Testing
Conducted?
What Types of Settings Are Assessments & Testing
Conducted?
 Educational settings
 Counseling settings
 Clinical settings
 Business settings
 Other settings
What Types of Settings Are Assessments & Testing
Conducted?
 Educational settings
achievement test
intelligence test
personality test
interest test.
What Types of Settings Are Assessments & Testing
Conducted?
Counseling settings

improvement of the assessee in terms of adjustment,

productivity or some related variables such as career,
personality, interest and others.
What Types of Settings Are Assessments & Testing
Conducted?
Clinical settings

psychological problems, competency to stand trial,

maladjustment behavior.
What Types of Settings Are Assessments & Testing
Conducted?
 Business settings
careers of personnel
decisions regarding promotion
Transfer
Job satisfaction
Training.
What Types of Settings Are Assessments & Testing
Conducted?
Government and Organizational Credentialing: ex. Board exam,
licensing, certification.

Research
Court

Health Psychology: A discipline that focuses on understanding

the role of psychological variables on the onset, course,
treatment and prevention of illness, disease and disability.
 Quiz
Next Meeting