Psychological

Assessment
VERONICA MENDOZA, RPM

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - MOA PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT

ALFRED BINET
Early 20th Century in France.
Published a test designed to
help place Paris schoolchildren
in appropriate classes with
Theodore Simon.
Attention, memory and verbal
skills.
After a decade, it was used in
schools in the United States.
World War I
During this time, a tool was used to screen large
numbers pf recruits quickly for intellectual and
emotional problems
In WWII, military would depend even more on
psychological tests to screen recruits for service

19 AUGUST, 2021
TESTING
used to refer to everything from the
administration of a test to the interpretation of a
test score. During World War I, the term “testing”
aptly described the group screening of
thousands of military recruits.
PSYCHOLOGICAL
ASSESSMENT
gathering and integration of psychology-related data
for the purpose of making a psychological evaluation
that is accomplished through the use of tools such as
tests, interviews, case studies, behavioral
observation, and specially designed apparatuses and
measurement procedures.

PSYCHOLOGICAL
TESTING
the process of measuring psychology-related variables
by means of devices or procedures designed to obtain
a sample of behavior.
 TESTING ASSESSMENT
Objective

to obtain some gauge, usually numerical typically, to answer a referral question,

in nature, with regard to an ability or solve a problem, or arrive at a decision
attribute. through the use of tools of evaluation.

Process
may be individual or group in nature. typically individualized.
After test administration, the tester typically focuses on how an
will typically add up “the number of individual processes rather than
correct answers or the number of simply the results of that
certain types of responses . . . with processing.
little if any regard for the how or
mechanics of such content”
(Maloney & Ward, 1976, p. 39).
 TESTING
Role of Evaluator
one tester may be substituted for
another tester without appreciably
affecting the evaluation.
Skill of Evaluator
Requires technician-like skills in terms
of administering and scoring a test as
well as in interpreting a test result.
Outcome
yields a test score or series of test
scores.
ASSESSMENT
The assessor is key to the process of
selecting tests and/or other tools of
evaluation as well as in drawing conclusions
from the entire evaluation.
Requires an educated selection of tools
of evaluation, skill in evaluation, and
thoughtful organization and integration
of data.
entails a logical problem-solving
approach that brings to bear many
sources of data designed to shed light
on a referral question.
 Referral

Process of
Preparation of tools for assessment

Formal assessment

Assessment Writing a psychological report

Feedback session
 DIFFERENT APPROACHES
Collaborative Therapeutic
Dynamic
Psychological Psychological
Assessment
Assessment Assessment
the assessor and therapeutic self-discovery refers to an interactive
assessee may work as and new understandings approach to psychological
“partners” from initial are encouraged throughout assessment that usually
contact through final the assessment process follows a model of (1)
feedback. evaluation, (2) intervention
of some sort, and (3)
evaluation
 Test

Interview

TOOLS OF Portfolio

PSYCHOLOGICAL Case History Data

ASSESSMENT Behavioral Observation

Role Play Tests

Computer as Tools
Tools for Psychological Assessment
1 Test may be defined simply as a measuring device or procedure.
Psychological test refers to a device or procedure designed to measure
variables related to psychology (such as intelligence, personality,
aptitude, interests, attitudes, or values)
Format pertains to the form, plan, structure, arrangement, and layout of
test items as well as to related considerations such as time limits.
also used to refer to the form in which a test is administered
also used to denote the form or structure of other evaluative tools
and processes, such as the guidelines for creating a portfolio work
sample.
Tools for Psychological Assessment
Scoring and Interpretation Procedures:
Score as a code or summary statement, usually but not necessarily
numerical in nature, that reflects an evaluation of performance on a test,
task, interview, or some other sample of behavior.
Scoring is the process of assigning such evaluative codes or statements
to performance on tests, tasks, interviews, or other behavior samples. In
the world of psychological assessment, many different types of scores
exist.
Cut score (also referred to as a cutoff score or simply a cutoff) is a
reference point, usually numerical, derived by judgment and used to
divide a set of data into two or more classifications.
Tools for Psychological Assessment
Psychometric soundness of a test when referring to how
consistently and how accurately a psychological test measures
what it purports to measure.
psychometric - refers to measurement that is psychological in nature
psychometrist and psychometrician - referring to a professional who
uses, analyzes, and interprets psychological test data
utility - refers to the usefulness or practical value that a test or other tool
of assessment has for a particular purpose.
Tools for Psychological Assessment
2 Interview - a method of gathering information through direct
communication involving reciprocal exchange. May be used to help
professionals in human resources to make more informed recommendations
about the hiring, firing, and advancement of personnel.
Panel interview (also referred to as a board interview) - more than one
interviewer participates in the assessment
advantage: any idiosyncratic biases of a lone interviewer will be
minimized (Dipboye, 1992)
disadvantage: the cost of using multiple interviewers may not be
justified (Dixon et al., 2002).
Motivational interviewing may be defined as a therapeutic dialogue that
combines person-centered listening skills such as openness and
empathy, with the use of cognition-altering techniques designed to
positively affect motivation and effect therapeutic change.
Tools for Psychological Assessment
3 Portfolio - work products—whether retained on paper, canvas, film, video,
audio, or some other medium as samples of one’s ability and
accomplishment.

4 Case history data - refers to records, transcripts, and other accounts in

written, pictorial, or other form that preserve archival information, official
and informal accounts, and other data and items relevant to an assessee.
Case study (or case history) is a report or illustrative account concerning a
person or an event that was compiled on the basis of case history data.
Groupthink - a social psychological phenomenon that contains rich case
history material on collective decision making that did not always result
in the best decisions
Tools for Psychological Assessment
5 Behavioral observation - monitoring the actions of others or oneself by
visual or electronic means while recording quantitative and/or qualitative
information regarding those actions.
Naturalistic observation - observe behavior of humans in a natural
setting—that is, the setting in which the behavior would typically be
expected to occur.

6 Role play - defined as acting an improvised or partially improvised part in a

simulated situation.
Role-play test is a tool of assessment wherein assessees are directed to
act as if they were in a particular situation.
Assessees may then be evaluated with regard to their expressed
thoughts, behaviors, abilities, and other variables.
it is routinely employed in many interventions with substance abusers.
Tools for Psychological Assessment
7 Computer - play in contemporary assessment in the context of generating
simulations.
They may also help in the measurement of variables that in the past were
quite difficult to quantify.

Types of Processing:
local processing – scoring done on site
central processing – scoring conducted at some central location
teleprocessing - test-related data may be sent to and returned from this
central facility by means of phone lines
Tools for Psychological Assessment
Types of Report:
simple scoring report - mere listing of score or scores
extended scoring report – more detailed report which includes statistical
analyses of the testtaker’s performance
interpretive report - which is distinguished by its inclusion of numerical
or narrative interpretive statements in the report. Some interpretive
reports contain relatively little interpretation and are limited to calling
the test user’s attention to certain scores that need to be focused on.
consultative report - this type of report, usually written in language
appropriate for communication between assessment professionals, may
provide expert opinion concerning analysis of the data.
integrative report - will employ previously collected data (such as
medication records or behavioral observation data) into the test report
Tools for Psychological Assessment
Other things to note:
CAPA refers to the term computer assisted psychological assessment
assisted typically refers to the assistance computers provide to the
test user, not the testtaker

CAT, this stands for computer adaptive testing.

The adaptive in this term is a reference to the computer’s ability to
tailor the test to the testtaker’s ability or testtaking pattern.
Tools for Psychological Assessment
Other tools:
Thermometers to measure body temperature and gauges to measure
blood pressure.
Biofeedback equipment is sometimes used to obtain measures of bodily
reactions (such as muscular tension) to various sorts of stimuli.
Penile plethysmograph - this instrument, designed to measure male
sexual arousal, may be helpful in the diagnosis and treatment of sexual
predators.
 WHO ARE THE PARTIES?
Test Developer Test User Test Taker
create tests or a wide range of anyone who is the
other methods of professionals, subject of an
assessment. including clinicians, assessment or an
counselors, school evaluation can be
psychologists, a testtaker or an
human resources assessee.
personnel,
consumer
psychologists,
experimental
psychologists, and others who may
social participate in
psychologists. varied ways in the
testing and
assessment
enterprise.
 Test Taker

Other extraneous variables related to the testtaker during test administration:

•The amount of test anxiety they are experiencing and the degree to which
that test anxiety might significantly affect the test results
•The extent to which they understand and agree with the rationale for the
assessment
•Their capacity and willingness to cooperate with the examiner or to
comprehend written test instructions
•The amount of physical pain or emotional distress they are experiencing
•The amount of physical discomfort brought on by not having had enough to
eat, having had too much to eat, or other physical conditions
•The extent to which they are alert and wide awake
•The extent to which they are predisposed to agreeing or disagreeing
when presented with stimulus statements
•The extent to which they have received prior coaching
 WHO ARE THE PARTIES?
**Psychological autopsy - may be defined as a
reconstruction of a deceased individual’s
psychological profile on the basis of archival
records, artifacts, and interviews previously
conducted with the deceased assessee or with
people who knew him or her.

Society at large

exerts its influence as a party to the assessment

enterprise in many ways. As society evolves and as the
need to measure different psychological variables
emerges, test developers respond by devising new
tests.
 WHAT TYPES OF SETTINGS ARE ASSESSMENTS
CONDUCTED, AND WHY?
Educational Settings

tests are administered early in school life to help identify children who may have special
needs.

School ability test - these are administered early in school life to help identify
children who may have special needs
Achievement test - which evaluates accomplishment or the degree of learning that
has taken place.
Diagnosis - a description or conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and
opinion.
this conclusion is reached through a process of distinguishing the nature of
something and ruling out alternative conclusions.
Diagnostic test - a tool of assessment used to help narrow down and identify areas
of deficit to be targeted for intervention.
Informal evaluation - a typically nonsystematic assessment that leads to the
formation of an opinion or attitude.
 WHAT TYPES OF SETTINGS ARE ASSESSMENTS
CONDUCTED, AND WHY?
Clinical Settings

such as public, private, and military hospitals, inpatient and outpatient clinics, private-
practice consulting rooms, schools, and other institutions.

Geriatric Setting - older individuals

Counseling Setting
Quality of life is defined from the perspective of an
may occur in environments as
observer; in other research, it is defined from the
diverse as schools, prisons,
perspective of assessees themselves and refers to
and government or privately
one’s own self-report regarding lifestyle-related
owned institutions.
variables.
the ultimate objective of
what is typically assessed in such research includes
many such assessments is the
evaluation with respect to variables such as
improvement of the assessee
perceived stress, loneliness, sources of
in terms of adjustment,
satisfaction, personal values, quality of living
productivity, or some related
conditions, and quality of friendships and other
variable.
social support.
 WHAT TYPES OF SETTINGS ARE ASSESSMENTS
CONDUCTED, AND WHY?
Other Clinical Settings

Academic research settings

Business and Military Setting
Conducting any sort of research typically entails
tests are used in many ways,
measurement of some kind, and any academician
perhaps most notably in
who ever hopes to publish research should ideally
decision making about the
have a sound knowledge of measurement principles
careers of personnel.
and tools of assessment.

Governmental and Other settings

Organizational Credentialing
One of the many applications
of measurement is in
governmental licensing,
certification, or general
credentialing of professionals.
Health psychology - a discipline that focuses on
understanding the role of psychological variables
in the onset, course, treatment, and prevention of
illness, disease, and disability.
 WHAT TYPES OF SETTINGS ARE ASSESSMENTS
CONDUCTED, AND WHY?
Other Clinical Settings
Accommodation - the adaptation of a test,
procedure, or situation, or the substitution
Assessment of people with disabilities
of one test for another, to make the
assessment more suitable for an assessee
with exceptional needs.
Alternate assessment is an evaluative or diagnostic
procedure or process that varies from the usual,
Which of many different types of
customary, or standardized way a measurement is
accommodation should be employed?
derived either by virtue of some special
1.the capabilities of the assessee;
accommodation made to the assessee or by means of
2.the purpose of the assessment;
alternative methods designed to measure the same
3.the meaning attached to test scores; and
variable(s)
4.the capabilities of the assessor
 HOW ARE ASSESSMENTS CONDUCTED?
There will most likely be some common ground in
terms of how the assessor prepares for the
assessment, how the assessment is administered,
how the scores or results of the assessment are
used, and how the entire record of the assessment
is stored

Rapport between the examiner and the

examinee can also be critically important. It may
be defined as a working relationship between the
examiner and the examinee.
 ETHICAL GUIDELINES FOR TEST USERS:
1. Before a test is administered, it should be stored in a way that reasonably
ensures that its specific contents will not be made known in advance

2.Before the test’s administration is to ensure that a prepared and suitably

trained person administers the test properly

3.The test administrator (or examiner) must be familiar with the test
materials and procedures and must have at the test site all the materials
needed to properly administer the test

4.Ensuring that the room in which the test will be conducted is suitable and
conducive to the testing

5.Create rapport between the administrator and testtaker

 WHERE TO GO FOR AUTHORITATIVE
INFORMATION: REFERENCE SOURCES
Test Catalogues Test Manuals Professional books

one of the most readily contains detailed available to supplement,

accessible sources of information concerning re-organize, or enhance
information is a the development of a the information typically
catalogue distributed by particular test and found in the manual of a
the publisher of the test. technical information very widely used
publishers’ catalogues relating to the test psychological test.
usually contain only a can be purchased from may alert potential users
brief description of the the test publisher. of the test to common
test and seldom contain errors in test
the kind of detailed administration, scoring,
technical information or interpretation, or to
that a prospective user well- documented
might require. cautions regarding the
use of the test with
members of specific
cultural groups
 WHERE TO GO FOR AUTHORITATIVE
INFORMATION: REFERENCE SOURCES
Reference volumes Journal articles Online databases

The Buros Center for may contain reviews of One of the most widely
Testing provides “one- the test, updated or used bibliographic
stop shopping” for a independent studies of databases for test-
great deal of test-related its psychometric related publications is
information. soundness, or examples that maintained by the
This volume, which is also of how the instrument Educational Resources
updated periodically, was used in either Information Center
provides detailed research or an applied (ERIC).
information for each test context.
listed, including test
publisher, test author, Other sources
test purpose, intended Many university libraries also provide access to online databases,
test population, and test such as PsycINFO, and electronic journals. Most scientific papers can
administration time. be downloaded straight to one’s computer using such an online
service. This is an extremely valuable resource to students, as non-
subscribers to such databases may be charged hefty access fees for
such access.
HISTORY OF
PSYCHOLOGICAL
ASSESSMENT
 China 2200 BCE
tests emphasized knowledge of
classical literature.
government jobs, civil service
Testtakers who demonstrated
examination
their command of the classics
proficiency in endeavors such as
were perceived as having
music, archery, horsemanship,
acquired the wisdom of the past
writing, and arithmetic were
and were therefore entitled to a
examined.
government position.
During the Song dynasty,
emphasis was placed on
960 to 1279 C.E.
knowledge of classical literature.
The tests were only open to
men, with the exception of a
brief period in the 1800s
Releasing the roll: results posted
on the wall

1859
Charles Darwin (1809–1882)
On the Origin of Species by Means
of Natural Selection
Darwin argued that chance
variation in species would be
selected or rejected by nature
according to adaptivity and
survival value.
18th Century
Christian von Wolff (1732, 1734)
had anticipated psychology as a
science and psychological
measurement as a specialty within
that science.
extremely influential contributor to
the field of measurement
aspired to classify people “according
to their natural gifts” and to
ascertain their “deviation from an
average”
Father of Eugenics
Eugenics - the science of improving
qualities of a breed (in this case, the
human race) through intervention
with factors related to heredity.
Francis Galton
 Wundt's student
Wilhelm Wundt
completed a doctoral dissertation
First psychology laboratory in that dealt with individual
University of Leipzig, Germany. differences—specifically, individual
a medical doctor whose title at the differences in reaction time.
university was professor of Coined the term mental test.
philosophy Founded the Psychological
Wundt and his students tried to Corporation which named 20 of the
formulate a general description of country’s leading psychologists as
human abilities with respect to its directors.
variables such as reaction time,
perception, and attention span. James McKeen Cattell
Wundt focused on questions
relating to how people were similar,
not different.
Individual differences were viewed
by Wundt as a frustrating source of
error in experimentation.
 Charles Spearman
credited with originating the
concept of test reliability as well
as building the mathematical
framework for the statistical
technique of factor analysis.

a psychiatrist
was an early experimenter with the
word association technique as a
formal test.
Victor Henri
is the Frenchman who would
collaborate with Alfred Binet on
papers suggesting how mental
tests could be used to measure
higher mental processes

Emil Kraepelin

Alfred Binet &
Theodore Simon
published a 30-item “measuring
scale of intelligence” designed to
help identify mentally retarded
Paris schoolchildren.
Lightner Witmer
received his Ph.D. from Leipzig and
went on to succeed Cattell as
director of the psychology
laboratory at the University of
Pennsylvania.
the “little-known founder of clinical
psychology” owing at least in part
to his being challenged to treat a
“chronic bad speller” in March of
1896.
Established the first psychological
clinic in US.
 1939

David Wechsler - a clinical psychologist

at Bellevue Hospital in New York City, came into being in the United
introduced a test designed to measure States in response to the military’s
adult intelligence. need for an efficient method of
intelligence was “the aggregate or global screening the intellectual ability of
capacity of the individual to act World War I recruits
purposefully, to think rationally, and to
deal effectively with his environment”
Group intelligence
Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence
Scale/Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
tests
(WAIS)

Robert S. Woodworth

Personal Data Sheet

developed a personality test for
civilian use that was based on the
Personal Data Sheet. He called it
the Woodworth Psychoneurotic
Inventory, the first widely used
self-report test of personality.
Self-Report - a process whereby
assessees themselves supply
assessment-related information by
responding to questions, keeping a
diary, or self-monitoring thoughts or
behaviors.
 Projective test

one in which an individual is

assumed to “project” onto some
ambiguous stimulus his or her own
unique needs, fears, hopes, and
motivation. The ambiguous
stimulus might be an inkblot, a
drawing, a photograph, or
Rorschach Inkblot Test something else.
Hermann Rorschach -
Swiss psychiatrist
The use of pictures as projective
the best known of all
stimuli was popularized in the late
projective tests
1930s by Henry A. Murray,
Christiana D. Morgan, and their
colleagues at the Harvard
Psychological Clinic

Late 1930s
 Culture and Assessment
Culture Culture-specific tests
“the socially transmitted
behavior patterns, tests designed for use with people from one culture
beliefs, and products of but not from another
work of a particular
population, community,
or group of people”.
Soon after Alfred Binet
introduced intelligence
testing in France, the
U.S. Public Health
Service began using
such tests to measure
the intelligence of
people seeking to
immigrate to the United
States
Culture and Assessment
Henry Goddard
translated Binet-Simon to English.
used interpreters in test administration, employed a
bilingual psychologist, and administered mental tests
to selected immigrants who appeared mentally
retarded to trained observers.
found most immigrants from various nationalities to be
mentally deficient when tested
coined the term moron
in the interest of the greater good of society at large—
mentally deficient individuals should be segregated or
institutionalized and not be permitted to reproduce
special education services first became law
acceptance of intelligence test data into evidence and
for the limitation of criminal responsibility
 Culture and Assessment
Some Issues Regarding Culture and Assessment

VERBAL COMMUNICATION
Language - the means by which
information is communicated, is a key
yet sometimes overlooked variable in
the assessment process.
The examiner and the examinee must
speak the same language.

Translator?
meaning may be lost in translation
unintentional hints to the correct or more desirable response may be conveyed
translated items may be either easier or more difficult than the original
words may change meaning or have dual meanings when translated
 Culture and Assessment
Some Issues Regarding Culture and Assessment

NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION AND BEHAVIOR

Facial expressions, finger and hand signs, and shifts in one’s position in
space may all convey messages.
the messages conveyed by such body language may be different from
culture to culture.
In psychoanalytic perspective, symbolic significance is assigned to many
nonverbal acts
 Culture and Assessment
Some Issues Regarding Culture and Assessment

STANDARDS OF EVALUATION
individualist culture is characterized by value being placed
on traits such as self-reliance, autonomy, independence,
uniqueness, and competitiveness
collectivist culture - value is placed on traits such as
conformity, cooperation, interdependence, and striving
toward group goals.
A challenge inherent in the assessment enterprise concerns
tempering test- and assessment-related outcomes with good
judgment regarding the cultural relativity of those outcomes.

psychopathological = what is prevailing societal standards?

Tests and Group Membership

In vocational assessment, test users

are sensitive to legal and ethical
mandates concerning the use of tests List five ethical guidelines that you
with regard to hiring, firing, and think should govern the professional
related decision making behavior of psychologists involved in
psychological testing and
Affirmative action refers to voluntary assessment
and mandatory efforts undertaken by
federal, state, and local governments,
private employers, and schools to
combat discrimination and to promote
equal opportunity in education and
employment for all
Legal and Ethical Considerations

Laws are rules that individuals must obey for

the good of the society as a whole—or rules
thought to be for the good of society as a
whole.
Whereas a body of laws is a body of rules, a
body of ethics is a body of principles of
right, proper, or good conduct.
code of professional ethics is recognized
and accepted by members of a profession, it
defines the standard of care expected of
members of that profession.
standard of care as the level at which the
average, reasonable, and prudent
professional would provide diagnostic or
therapeutic services under the same or
similar conditions.
 The Concerns of the Public
LEGISLATION
Minimum Competency Testing
Programs - formal testing programs
designed to be used in decisions
regarding various aspects of
students’ education.
Truth-in-testing legislation was also
passed at the state level beginning in
the 1980s.
The primary objective of these laws
was to give testtakers a way to
learn the criteria by which they are
being judged.
Truth-in-testing:
(1) the test’s purpose and its subject
matter,
(2) the knowledge and skills the test
purports to measure,
(3) procedures for ensuring
accuracy in scoring,
(4) procedures for notifying
testtakers of errors in scoring,
(5) procedures for ensuring the
testtaker’sconfidentiality
Quota system - a selection
procedure whereby a fixed number
or percentage of applicants from
certain backgrounds were selected
 The Concerns of the Public

LEGISLATION
Discrimination - the practice of making
distinctions in hiring, promotion, or other disparate treatment - the
selection decisions that tend to consequence of an employer’s hiring
systematically favor members of a majority or promotion practice that was
group regardless of actual qualifications for intentionally devised to yield some
positions. discriminatory result or outcome.
may occur as the result of intentional or disparate impact - the consequence
unintentional action on the part of an of an employer’s hiring or promotion
employer. practice that unintentionally resulted
reverse discrimination - the practice of in a discriminatory result or outcome.
making distinctions in hiring, promotion, or
other selection decisions that systematically
tend to favor members of a minority group
regardless of actual qualifications for
positions.
The Concerns of the Public

LITIGATION

The court-mediated resolution of legal matters of a civil, criminal or administrative

nature
A psychologist acting as an expert witness in criminal litigation may testify on matters
such as the competence of a defendant to stand trial, the competence of a witness to
give testimony, or the sanity of a defendant entering a plea of “not guilty by reason
of insanity.”
In a malpractice case, an expert witness might testify about how reasonable and
professional the actions taken by a fellow psychologist were and whether any
reasonable and prudent practitioner would have engaged in the same or similar
actions (Cohen, 1979)
Who is qualified to be an expert witness?
How much weight should be given to the testimony of an expert witness?
The Concerns of the Profession

Who should be privy to test data?

Who should be able to purchase psychological test materials?

Who is qualified to administer, score, and interpret psychological tests?

What level of expertise in psychometrics qualifies someone to administer which

types of test?
The Concerns of the Profession
Test-user qualifications
Level A: Tests or aids that can adequately be administered, scored, and interpreted with
the aid of the manual and a general orientation to the kind of institution or organization in
which one is working (for instance, achievement or proficiency tests).
Level B: Tests or aids that require some technical knowledge of test construction and use
and of supporting psychological and educational fields such as statistics, individual
differences, psychology of adjustment, personnel psychology, and guidance (e.g., aptitude
tests and adjustment inventories applicable to normal populations).
Level C: Tests and aids that require substantial understanding of testing and supporting
psychological fields together with supervised experience in the use of these devices (for
instance, projective tests, individual mental tests).

Testing people with disabilities - Challenges analogous to those concerning

testtakers from linguistic and cultural minorities are present when testing people
with disabling conditions.
these challenges may include (1) transforming the test into a form that can be taken by
the testtaker, (2) transforming the responses of the testtaker so that they are scorable,
and (3) meaningfully interpreting the test data.
The Concerns of the Profession

Test-User Qualifications

The obligations of professionals to testtakers are set forth in a document called

the Code of Fair Testing Practices in Education
(1)developing/selecting tests,
(2)interpreting scores,
(3)striving for fairness, and
(4)informing testtakers
The Concerns of the Profession

Computerized test administration, scoring, and interpretation - some major

issues with regard to CAPA are as follows.
Access to test administration, scoring, and interpretation software.
Comparability of pencil-and-paper and computerized versions of tests.
The value of computerized test interpretations.
Unprofessional, unregulated “psychological testing” online.

Guidelines with respect to certain populations

the guidelines are designed to assist professionals in providing informed and
developmentally appropriate services
Various other groups and professional organizations also publish documents
that may be helpful to mental health professionals vis-à-vis the provision of
services to members of specific populations
 The Rights of Testtakers

The right of informed consent - Testtakers have a right to know why they are
being evaluated, how the test data will be used, and what (if any) information will
be released to whom.
The right to be informed of test findings - Testtakers have a right to be informed,
in language they can understand, of the nature of the findings with respect to a
test they have taken. They are also entitled to know what recommendations are
being made as a consequence of the test data
The right to privacy and confidentiality
The concept of the privacy right “recognizes the freedom of the individual to
pick and choose for himself the time, circumstances, and particularly the extent
to which he wishes to share or withhold from others his attitudes, beliefs,
behavior, and opinions”
The right to the least stigmatizing label
The Standards advise that the least stigmatizing labels should always be
assigned when reporting test results.