TOP 10 THINGS ABOUT

ASSESSMENT
FINAL COACHING
ASSESSMENT
#10 IT’S A BOARD SUBJECT

 Don’t we know it.

 How many times have you heard your
teachers tell you that?
 Feeling pressured enough?
 That’s not all….
 The Table of Specification…GULP
THE JOURNEY TO RPSY

 Not complete without assessment.

 After all, psychometricians need to
know all about tests, right?
#9 ETHICS

Ethical issues are to be

considered when we perform
assessments
Let’s take a look at the different
issues we can be faced with.
SITUATION A

 A patient came to Janice to be

assessed. However, Janet just learned
to administer these tests and was
used to being supervised.
 She then decides to go ahead and
assess Janice without the help of
anyone.
 She makes a mistake in coming up
with the results.
 What ethical issue is involved?
ANSWER: COMPETENCE

 What makes a competent

psychologist?
 Skills
 Professionalism
 Integrity
WHAT MAKES A PSYCHOLOGIST
COMPETENT?
Knowledge from
Experience

Acquired and Inherent COMPETENC Knowledge through

Skills E Education

Motivation and
attitude
SITUATION B

 Bill is taken to the psychologist by his father William. In order to come off as being
very efficient, Anna immediately starts working with Bill. She immediately starts
her intake interview and right after, she then gives Bill different tests to assess his
situation further.
 Anna forgot to do something. What was it?
INFORMED CONSENT

 Consent requires “affirmative

permission before actions can be
taken”.
SITUATION C

 Marsha underwent psychological

assessment and as soon as she was
done, she was informed that she
would be given the results by email.
 Two weeks later, Marsha gets her
results AND begins to read it.
 She couldn’t understand most of the
report.
SHARING OF RESULTS

 Test results must be fully disclosed in

understandable language
 Theoretical constructs must be
avoided
 Technical terms must not be used.
 6 Sten?
AND SO AS NOT TO BORE YOU…

 Think of instances where you might  Confidentiality

violate ethical principles in the
following instances  Test Security
 Divided Loyalties
 Invasion of Privacy
 Labeling
 Dehumanization
QUALITY CRITERIA OF TESTS

 Scope
 Reliability
 Validity
 Acceptability
 Practicality
 Fairness
 Utility
#8 RELIABILITY

 Speaks of a test’s quality

 Is the examinee’s performance on a
test consistent?
TYPES OF RELIABILITY

 Test Retest Reliability

 Parallel Forms Reliability
 Decision Consistency
 Internal Consistency
RELIABILITY IS MEASURED IN ASPECTS OF

INTERNAL
STABILITY
CONSISTENCY

EQUIVALENCE
RELIABILITY CONSIDERATIONS IN TEST
SELECTION

Evaluate data on Select test that

Examine
Explore Potential reliability along promises to
Reliability Data
Sources of Error with utility and produce the most
available
validity reliable scores
#7 VALIDITY

 A matter of judgments that pertain to

test scores as they are employed for a
given purpose and in a given context.
#6 ITEM ANALYSIS

 Based on Classical Test Theory

 A true score made up of the score plus
the error
 Item difficulty
 Item discrimination
 Distractor analysis
 Item-test intercorrelations
ITEM RESPONSE THEORY

 Aims to analyze the relationship

between responses to items and
associated trait
 Based on graph that relates the
probability of answering correctly for
each item, to a responder’s ability
 Each item has its own curve
ITEM CHARACTERISTIC CURVE
THE BASICS

 Difficult item: curve needs to start to

rise on the right hand side
 Easy item: have curve beginning to
rise on the left hand side of the curve
CLASSICAL TEST THEORY

 Most useful for objective testing  Problems:

 Sample dependency
 Well-established and relatively simple
 Test dependency (specific test form)
 Can quanitfy  Built for the average student
 Test reliability  Lack of accounting for guessing
 Inter rater consistency  Scoring: does not take into account
 Item difficulty item difficulty
 Discriminating power  Does not support adaptive testing
 Learner misconception
 Can help identify
 Errors
 Badly designed items
ITEM RESPONSE THEORY

 Defined by item parameters

 In an item characteristic curve,
examinees with higher ability are
much more likely to respond correctly
 Accounts for discrimination, difficulty,
and guessing
IN A NUTSHELL

 Classical Test Theory: principal focus is

upon both test-level information and
item statistics and it is viewed as a
weak model because its assumptions
can be easily met by traditional
psychometric procedures
 Item Response Theory: uses
mathematical models to understand
behavior of items
THIS IS THE LAST ONE… I PROMISE YOU
#5 STATISTICS: REALLY?

 Of course, yes!
 To understand psychological tests,
one needs to deal with numbers and
statistics
 Understanding statistics is possible
for anyone
 The best way to increase one’s grasp
of statistical concepts is to apply
them
IF YOU DON’T REMEMBER MUCH, AT LEAST
REMEMBER THIS:
#4 NORMAL CURVE: MEMORIZE IT
#3 CONSTRUCTS

 Informed, scientific idea developed or

generated to describe or explain
behavior
 Intelligence
 Personality
 Anxiety
 Job Satisfaction
SOME CONSTRUCTS ARE STILL NOT
DEFINED THAT WELL
 Intelligence
 Personality
#2 ASSESSMENT IN DIFFERENT SETTINGS

 Community Centers
 Schools
 Hospitals
 Industry
 Clinical Practice
#1 TESTS ARE ONLY A PART OF THE
ASSESSMENT PROCESS
 Yes we need to know the different
kinds of tests
 Yes, we need to be able to interpret
results.
 No, we do not base our decisions on
just tests alone