Book :

Cohen−Swerdlik • Psychological Testing and Assessment: An Introduction to Tests and

Measurement, Seventh Edition

Behavioral Observation

If you want to know how someone behaves in a particular situation, observe his or her

behavior in that situation. Such “down-home” wisdom underlies at least one approach

to evaluation. Behavioral observation, as it is employed by assessment professionals,

may be defi ned as monitoring the actions of others or oneself by visual or electronic

means while recording quantitative and/or qualitative information regarding the

actions.

Behavioral observation is often used as a diagnostic aid in various settings such

as inpatient facilities, behavioral research laboratories, and classrooms. In addition to

diagnosis, behavioral observation may be used for selection purposes, as in corporate

settings. Here behavioral observation may be used as a tool to help identify people

who demonstrate the abilities required to perform a particular task or job. Sometimes

researchers venture outside of the confi nes of clinics, classrooms, workplaces, and research
laboratories in order to observe behavior of humans in a natural setting—that

is, the setting in which the behavior would typically be expected to occur. This variety of behavioral
observation is referred to as naturalistic observation. As an example,

one team of researchers studying the socializing behavior of autistic children with same-aged peers
opted for natural settings rather than a controlled, laboratory environment (Bellini et al., 2007).

Behavioral observation as an aid to designing therapeutic intervention has proven

to be extremely useful in institutional settings such as schools, hospitals, prisons, and

group homes. Using published or self-constructed lists of targeted behaviors, staff can

observe fi rsthand the behavior of individuals and design interventions accordingly.

In a school situation, for example, naturalistic observation on the playground of a culturally different
child suspected of having linguistic problems might reveal that the child

does have English language skills but is unwilling—for reasons of shyness, cultural

upbringing, or whatever—to demonstrate those abilities to adults.

In practice, behavioral observation tends to be used infrequently outside of research

facilities, prisons, inpatient clinics, and other types of facilities where the observers

have ready access to assessees. This is so more for economic reasons than anything else.

For private practitioners, it is typically not economically feasible to spend hours out of

the consulting room observing clients. Still, there are some mental health professionals,

such as those in the fi eld of assisted living, who fi nd great value in behavioral observation of
patients outside of their institutional environment. For them, it may be necessary to accompany a
patient outside of the institution’s walls to learn if that patient is

capable of independently performing activities of daily living. In this context, a tool that

relies heavily on behavioral observation, such as the Test of Grocery Shopping Skills