PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT (PREFINALS)

THE SOURCES OF MEASUREMENT ERROR

RELIABILITY
There can be several
errors with the process of
test construction, it
Reliability is the degree to which an assessment includes the test items
tool produces stable and consistent results. In and the item sampling
other words, a psychological test or assessment itself.
would only be considered valuable if it can get the
same results upon each administration. In other words, the items
included in a test and how
Example: A ruler would give the same results every they were selected could
single time we would use it to measure the length produce measurement
of an object which is why it is considered as errors in a test when it
reliable. Test Construction comes to its
construction. It is
A reliability coefficient is an index of reliability, a possible that the items
proportion that indicates the ratio between the true included In a test does not
scored variance on a test and the total variance. In really measure the
other words, reliability coefficient refers to the desired construct, it
numerical index or the value of the reliability of a could also because the
test, meaning to say it expresses whether or not a test maker was not able to
test or an assessment is reliable. select the questions
properly.
Usually, reliability coefficient ranges from 0 to 1. A
score of 0 to 0.60 means that the test is not reliable
while a grade from 0.70 to 1 indicates that it is in
fact reliable. In other words, unlike the classical When it comes to the test
test theory, reliability coefficient is numerical in administration factors
such as environment, test
nature.
taker, and test
administrator (examiner
related variables such as
THE CONCEPT OF RELIABILITY Test Administration appearance and
treatment) could become
The Classical Test Theory is a score on a test that is the reason for the
presumed to reflect not only the true score of the existence of errors in a
test taker on the ability being measured but also test or assessment.
the error. The said theory claims that the observed
score (X) is formulated through the combination of
the true score (T) and error (E). It means that what As for the errors in the test
we get from a test is only the observed score since scoring and interpretation
true score can only be acquired if there is an there are actually two
absence of error which is not possible in the real Test Scoring and types of them, test and
world. However, classical test theory cannot be Interpretation pencil test errors and
numerically translated. digital errors.

CLASSICAL TEST THEORY FORMULA When it comes to digital

errors, the most common
X (observed score) = T (true score) + E (error) factors that contribute to
 its existence in a test
include the internet TYPES OF RELIABILITY
connection, the device
that is being used, etc.

On the other hand, in a

test and pencil setting the
primary issue is what is It is a test of reliability
called subjective scoring obtained by
also known as bias correlating pairs of
grading which is scores from the same
commonly present during people on two
the scoring of projective different
tests. administrations of the
same test. The test-
retest reliability could
be considered high if
INTERPRETING TEST RESULTS the score from the
initial and final testing
A reliability coefficient can range from a value of 0
correlates with each
to a value of 1. The reliability of a test needs to be
other.
around a score of 0.70 (70%) and above in order to
be considered as reliable (high reliability). A high However, when it
reliability indicates that the test is measuring comes to test-retest
something (its desired variable) while a low reliability have to
reliability means that the measurements made consider the construct
through the use of the said test are only due to or the variable being
coincidence. Furthermore, a score of flat 1 Test-Retest measured. If it is
indicates that the test does not have any presence Reliability consistently changing
of error (which is impossible). such as states, test-
retest reliability would
Additionally, if the reliability coefficient is lower be useless.
than .70 it means that the majority of the test
variance is error which means that most of the test Test-retest reliability
scores are only out of chances. often deals with test
administration errors
A high reliability is a requirement for high validity, since the test needs to
meaning to say a test cannot be valid without being be administered twice
reliable, however, it can be reliable without being which makes it prone
valid. In simpler terms, in order for test to be to errors during the
considered valid it needs to be capable of time period between
measuring a variable accurately with the same the initial and final
testing.
level of precision while on the other hand, a test
can have a high level of precision but low level of
The statistical tools
accuracy. that can be used in this
type of reliability are
either Pearson R or
Spearman Rho.
 It refers to the
measure of reliability
obtained by
administering
different versions of an
assessment tool (both
versions must contain
items that probe the
same construct, skill,
knowledge, base, etc)
to the same group of
individuals. The scores
from the two versions
can then be correlated
in order to evaluate the
consistency of results
across alternate
versions.
In simpler terms, in
this type of reliability
the test taker would
need to take different
tests which measure
the same construct. Alternative-Form
Parallel Forms
Reliability Usually, test makers
create a vast number
of test questions
which they would then
split into two in order
to have two different
tests which measure
same construct.
The Parallel Forms
Reliability deals with
errors from test
administration due to
the time interval
between the testing
and the test
construction since it is
possible that the items
in the tests are not
consistent with the
construct needed to
be measured.
It is the consistency of
results among two or
more different forms
of a test.
Parallel Form and
Alternative-Form
Reliability are
somewhat similar with
each other since both
of them is in need of
having large number of
test questions that
measure the same
construct and then
they would be split
into two separate
tests. However, in
parallel form the mean
of the test scores of
both tests are
identical while on the
other hand, in
Reliability alternative-form, the
mean of the two tests
is not that similar with
each other. The
statistical tool used for
the both of them are
either Spearman Rho
or Pearson R.
In Alternative-Form
Reliability, the errors
are mainly due to the
test administration
because of the time
interval and test
construction since the
more test questions
are formulated the
higher the risk of the
presence of
inconsistency.

It this type of reliability,
a test for a single
construct is split into
two parts (odd and
even numbers) and
then both parts are
given to the same
group at the same
time. After that the
scores from both parts
of the test are
correlated. The
difference between
Parallel Form,
Alternative-Form, and
Split-Half Reliability is
that the former have to
be administered with
time interval while the
Split-Half Reliability latter does not need
to.
The errors in this type
or reliability are mainly
due to test
construction since it
has a large number of
items which increases
the risk of having some
of them being
inconsistent with the
construct being
measured.
In Split-Half Reliability,
there is only a single
test administration
and two numbers of
tests (odd and even).
The statistical tool
used in this type of
reliability is Pearson R.
It is a measure of
reliability used to
assess the degree to
which different judges
or raters agree in their
assessment
decisions.
In this type of reliability
there are three raters
that are tasked to rate
the test in question. If
the data from the
raters are in line with
each other they can
Inter-Rater agree that the test is
Reliability indeed reliable.
In this type of reliability
there is only a single
test administration
and test being
assessed.
Furthermore, most of
the errors that occur in
this type of test are
due to test scoring and
interpretation. While
on the other hand, the
statistical tool that
can be used in this
type of reliability is the
Pearson R.
It is the type of
reliability that refers to
the degree of
correlation among all
items on a scale. It
means that it deals
with the test item,
Internal Consistency about how consistent
the function of the
items is, unlike in the
Parallel Form and
Alternative-Form that
deal with the
performance of the
test taker. It only has
single administration.
It is useful in assessing with five or seven
the homogeneity of choices in place.
the test. Meaning to
say how good is an
item (question) when it
comes to the THE NATURE OF THE TEST
measurement of a
Closely related to considerations concerning the
single variable.
purpose and use of a reliability coefficient are
Kuder-Richardson 20 those concerning the nature of the test itself.
is a statistical tool Included here are considerations such as whether:
used only if the test
1. The test is heterogeneous or
items are highly
homogeneous in nature. To specify further,
homogenous which
means it only homogeneous means it is uniform
measures a single throughout, it only measures one factor or
variable. On the other variable all throughout, it indicates that
hand, it is also used if there is a high possibility that the test has
the difficulty of the a high internal consistency since the items
items is different with are most probably related to each other.
each other. On the other hand, if it is heterogeneous, it
Additionally, it is also means that the test measures more than
used if the test is one trait which also indicates that it is
binary, it means that it highly possible that the internal
is only answerable by
consistency of it is significantly low due to
yes or no.
the presence of multiple types of
questions that aim to measure different
However, if the level of variables.
difficulty of each item
varies from each other 2. The characteristic, ability, trait being
the statistical tool that measured is presumed to be dynamic or
would be needed to static. Dynamic refers to the type of test
use is the Kuder- that is ever changing while static is the
Richardson 21. opposite of it.

Assuming that the variable that is needed

Coefficient Alpha or to be measured is dynamic the best type of
Cronbach Alpha is
reliability to use would be inter item
appropriate for use on
consistency since it is only a single
tests containing non
dichotomous items. It administration. On the other hand, when it
means that it is used if comes to static variables the best type of
the test is designed to reliability would be test-retest since it is
be answered by two or built to measure constructs that do not
more responses, this change frequently.
would be the proper
tool for the job. An
example would be a
Likert Scale which
allows the test taker to
answer the question
3. The range of test scores is or is not ALTERNATIVES TO THE TRUE SCORE
restricted. MODEL

If the variance of either variable in a

correlational analysis is restricted by the
sampling procedure, then the resulting
correlations tend to be lower. In simpler
terms, if the participants that were chosen
were gathered based on a criterion, there
is a possibility that the correlation would
be lower.
On the other hand, If it is inflated by the
sampling procedure, then it tends to be
higher. It means that if the participants
were chosen randomly, there is a
possibility that the correlation would be
higher.
DOMAIN SAMPLING THEORY
It states that each item in a test is an
independent trait or ability being
measured. This theory states that if the
reliability of the test is low, the only thing
that is needed to be done is to add more
items to the test (double the number of
items to be specific).
The larger the sample, the more likely that
the test will represent true characteristics.

4. The test is a speed or a power test. When

we say power test, it means that the speed
of the test taker when it comes to
answering the test, instead, it focuses on
the right answers that he/she managed to
get. Usually, power tests are those that
contain a hard set of questions.

On the other hand, in the speed test the

factor being considered is the time limit. It
usually has a uniform level of difficulty.
The type of reliability to use could be
Alternative-Forms Reliability or Test-
Retest Reliability since they mainly focus
on the performance of the test taker.

5. The test is or is not criterion-referenced

test. If the test is criterion-referenced, the
type of reliability that is needed to be used
should be Inter-Rater Reliability, Parallel
Form Reliability, or Alternative-Form
Reliability. While on the other hand, if the
test is not criterion-referenced, all the
types of reliability can be used, it would
only depend on the construct being
measured.