Psychological Testing and

Assessment
1.LESSON
Assoc.Prof.Halime Şenay Güzel
senaysenyuva35@gmail.com
• What ‘s measurement?
• The action of measuring something.
• The size, length, or amount of something, as
established by measuring.
• The roots of contemporary psychological
testing and assessment can be found in early
twentieth-century in France.
• Alfred Binet
• published a test designed to help place Paris
schoolchildren in appropriate classes.
• And then………………..
• an English language version of Binet’s test was
prepared for use in schools, in the United
States.
• World War I →???

• World War II →???

• The 1st and 2nd world wars were a very
important step for psychological evaluation.
• World War I → diagnosing (for intellectual
and emotional problems)
In World War 1, psychological testing/asssessment was used to select people to be
recruited and given weapons.

• World War II → to screen recruits for service

→ to measure not only intelligence
but also personality, aspects of brain functioning,
performance at work, and many other aspects of
psychological and social functioning.
In the 2nd world war, psychological assessment was preferred for more
human resources areas such as motivation, selecting suitable job
positions for people.
• Is there any difference between
psychological testing and
psychological assessment???
• Greengrocer or banker or repairman or a
psychologist???

• ?????
• Anyone with normal intelligence can learn how to take an
intelligence test. For example, we can teach the grocer how to
do the WISC-R. We can say, "Ask this and that, this is the
handbook, add up these scores," and he can find the total score
and write a report saying this is the intelligence of this child.
• Would this be an assessment or not?
• What is this?
• We define psychological assessment as the
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.
• Psychopathology knowledge/ Interview skills/
behavior observation…Developmental
perspective/ family system/ special needs/
educational settings……………
• We define psychological testing as the
process of measuring psychology-related
variables by means of devices or procedures
designed to obtain a sample of behavior.
TESTING
Objective:Typically, to obtain some gauge,
usually numerical in nature, with regard to an
ability or attribute.
Process: Testing may be individual or group in
nature. After test administration,
the tester will typically add up “the number of
correct answers or the number of certain
types of responses .
Role of Evaluator:The tester is not key to the
process; practically speaking, one tester
may be substituted for another tester without
appreciably affecting the evaluation.
Skill of Evaluator:Testing typically requires
technician-like skills in terms of administering
and scoring a test as well as in interpreting a
test result
Outcome: Typically, testing yields a test score
or series of test scores.
ASSESSMENT
Typically, to answer a referral question, solve
a problem, or arrive at a decision through the
use of tools of evaluation
Assessment is typically individualized. In
contrast to testing, assessment more typically
focuses on how an individual processes rather
than simply the results of that processing
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.
Assessment typically requires an educated
selection of tools of evaluation, skill in
evaluation, and thoughtful organization
and integration of data.
Typically, assessment entails a logical
problem-solving approach that brings to bear
many sources of data designed to shed light
on a referral question
 The Tools of Psychological
Assessment
• The Test:
• A test may be defined simply as a measuring
device or procedure.
• a device or procedure designed to measure a
variable related to that modifier
• for example medical test(such as X-rays, blood
tests, and testing of reflexes)
• psychological test (such as intelligence,
personality, aptitude, interests, attitudes, and
values)
• Psychological tests and other tools of
assessment may differ with respect to a
number of variables such as content, format,
administration procedures, scoring and
interpretation procedures, and technical
quality.
 Lets go through the details
• Format?
• computerized, pencil-and-paper, or some
other form.
• Example?
• Administration procedures?
• Some tests, particularly those designed for
administration on a one-to-one basis, may require
an active and knowledgeable test administrator
• (Example?)
• Some tests, particularly those designed for
administration to groups, may not even require the
test administrator to be present while the test
takers independently do whatever it is the test
requires
• (Example?)
• Scoring?
• Some tests have cutoff scores.
• For example Beck depression inventory?
• Or Beck Anxiety Inventory?
• 0 - 9 : Minimal depressive symptoms
• 10 - 16 : Mild depressive symptoms
• 17 - 29 : Moderate depressive symptoms
• 30 - 63 : Severe depressive symptoms (marked
impact on social or occupational functioning).
• 8-15 :Mild anxiety symptoms
• 16-25 Moderate anxiety symptoms
• 26-63: Severe anxiety symptoms
• Interpretation procedures?
• Some tests are designed to be scored by the
testtakers themselves, and others are
designed to be scored by trained examiners.
• For example?
• Technical quality?
• One speaks of the psychometric soundness of
a test when referring to how consistently and
how accurately a psychological test measures
what it purports to measure.
• Psychological tests can change based on
technical quality.
• The Interview:
• In everyday conversation, the word interview
conjures images of face-to-face talk.
• And also it’s a tool of psychological assessment?
• (SCID-5-PD)
• The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-
5 (SCID-5)
• What is the difference between the interview
as a psychological assessment tool and the
interview used in everyday life?!!!
• It involves more than talk!!!
• *Clinicals interviews in psychological
assessments may be used by psychologists in
various specialty areas to help make
diagnostic, treatment plan for the
patient….There is a purpose for this meeting
• *It involves asking structured or open-
ended questions to elicit responses that
can provide insights into various
psychological phenomena. …It isnt a
conversation between you and the patient.
• *The interview has standard rules, it has a
deadline, the place is an office, the interview
costs money.

• * There are ethical rules of interviewing,

which the psychologist has to follow.
• * Verbal and nonverbal behaviours have a
crucial role in the psychological assesment.
• The interviewer is taking note of both verbal
and nonverbal behavior.
• not only the content of what is said but also
the way it is being said.
• *The interview is conducted face-to-face
• Interviews are ideally conducted face-to face.
• But sometimes interviews may be conducted
in other formats, such as by telephone,
skype…
• When can we use this kind of interview? 
• *You made the first interview with your client
face to face, but your patient had to go to
another city.
• *You made the first interview face to face,
but you had to go to another city.
• *Coronavirus !!!
There is a epidemic disease in your country and
you have to choose this kind of interview….
*If the client does not live in your city……..
• This is the traditional approach.

• But there are some disadvantages of

telephone/ online interview.

• Think about your online course experience ……..

• *In general, interviews differ with regard to
many variables, such as their purpose, length
and nature.
• For example:
• In human resources departments, interview
may be used to help human resources
professionals make more informed
recommendations about the promotion,
hiring, and advancement of personnel.
• The Portfolio:
• The portfolio includes students and professionals’
work products.
• For example an instructor’s portfolio may consist
of various documents such as lesson plans,
published writings, and visual aids developed
expressly for teaching certain subjects.
• Case History Data:
• Case history data may include files or excerpts
from files maintained at institutions and
agencies such as schools, hospitals, employers,
religious institutions, and criminal justice
agencies.
• Other examples of case history data are
letters and written correspondence, photos
and family albums, newspaper and magazine
clippings, and home videos, movies, and
audiotapes.
• Case history data is a useful tool in a wide
variety of assessment contexts.
• In a clinical evaluation, for example, case
history data can shedlight on an individual’s
past and current adjustment as well as on the
events and circumstances
• Behavioral Observation:
• Behavioral observation, as it is employed by
assessment professionals, may be defined 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.

• Example?
• Psychiatric nurse….
• Psychologist…
• Naturalistic observation
• Sometimes researchers venture outside of the
confines of clinics, classrooms, kindergarten,
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.
• Observation autistic children with same-aged peers
• Role-Play Tests:
• ?
• A 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.
• Role play is one way in which to utilize this form of
therapy to benefit a client.
• For example, with a client who is dreading an interview,
the therapist takes on the role of the interviewer.
• If an interview is too anxiety-provoking for the client,
he can role-play it with his therapist.
• By analyzing his/ her responses after enacting the
mock-scene, the client can see what she/he tends to
do. The next step is to consider how to do it differently
next time
• Role play is effective because for 2 main purposes.
• First, each subsequent re-enactment pushes the
client out of his/her comfort zone. They build-up
confidence levels and deal with fears (often a fear of
authority).
• Secondly, it can help to desensitize the client, so
s/he actually feels less fearful of the interview and
the interviewer. ( to cause to become less sensitive )
• Therapeutic role-playing has proved to be an
effective treatment for (social) phobia sufferers, who
often believe that a feared situation is inherently
dangerous.
• This type of therapy allows a therapist and patient
to act out scenarios that are difficult for the phobia
sufferer.
• Through role-playing the patient learns new
behaviors to help overcome their particular phobia
• Therapeutic role-playing is a technique that allows a
person with a phobia to practice new behaviors.
• In a role-playing session, the therapist takes the
identity of someone that the person is afraid to
confront, such as a parent or employer.
• The person then interacts with the therapist,
utilizing behaviors that she has learned during
therapy.
• After the role-playing session is complete, a
debriefing takes place in which the client and
therapist discuss what happened and ways to
improve the interaction.
• This technique can be particularly helpful for
those suffering social phobia, or other
interpersonal phobias.
• When someone with a phobia is interacting
with a therapist, he or she can put to use the
new behaviors that were learned during
treatment.
• Many people with phobias suffer from social
or interpersonal fears that prevent them from
actively participating in some aspect of their
lives.
• In summary, role-playing therapy can help
people overcome their fears by learning new
behavioral techniques.
• Computers as Tools:
• Test administration, scoring and
interpretation

• Computers can serve as test administrators

• Within seconds they can derive not only test
scores but patterns of test scores
• In Turkey we can use computer to score MMPI
 Avantages and disadvantage???
• Disadvantages:
• Avantages:
• ?
• ?
• Sometimes we can not
• We save time
understand the whole
• There will not be a scorer Picture.
fault • The results may change or
• It can be applied to more be damaged due to viruses
then one person at the • We can not observe testing
same time
attitude!
 Who, What, Why, How, and
Where?
• Who Are the Parties?
• Parties in the assessment enterprise include
developers and publishers of tests, users of
tests, and people who are evaluated by means
of tests.
• The test developer
• Test developers and publishers create tests or
other methods of assessment.
• The test user:
• QUESTIONS:
• *Who are (or should be) test users?
• *Should occupational therapists, for example, be
allowed to administer psychological tests?
• *What about human resource executives with no
formal training in psychology?
• *Should supervisors of psychological assessors be
allowed in the room while an assessment is taking
place?
• Who can be a test user?
• Psychological tests and assessment
methodologies are used by a wide range of
professionals, including clinicians, counselors,
school psychologists, human resources
personnel, consumer psychologists,
experimental psychologists, social
psychologists, . . . ; the list goes on.
• Still, controversy exists about which
professionals with what type of training should
have access to which tests.
• Members of various professions, with little or no
psychological training, have sought the right to
obtain and use psychological tests.
• In many countries, no ethical or legal regulation
of psychological test use exists
• Other professionals can test if it is not
intended to diagnose !!!
• ………………………………..
• The other question:
• Should supervisors of psychological assessors
be allowed in the room while an assessment is
taking place?
• ?
• I prefer not to be in the same place with my students, I asked
for them to use a video/voice recorder.
• The testtaker:
• What about testtaker?
• Test-takers may vary on a continuum with
respect to numerous variables, including some
characteristics.???
***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 .
(Will that person cooperate with you?
Did she/he understand test instructions ?)
•?
***The amount of physical pain or emotional
distress they are experiencing.
Some people may differ in the emotional pain/physcical pain
they feel.
?
*** 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.
***The importance they may attribute to
portraying themselves in a good (or bad) light.
?
They can present themselves in a bad way or a good way !!
(disability pension; disability report; report used for
employment….)
• ***The extent to which they are, for lack of a
better term, “lucky” and can “beat the odds”
on a multiple-choice achievement test (even
though they may not have learned the subject
matter)
• In What Types of Settings Are Assessments
Conducted, and Why?
• Educational settings
• school ability (help identify children who may
have special needs….)
• ?
• Gifted children, mental retardation, S. learning
disorder (SLD)
• achievement test (to evaluate accomplishment
or the degree of learning that has taken place)
• For diagnosis (to assess the need for
educational intervention
• Clinical settings:
• Tests and many other tools of assessment are
widely used in clinical settings such as public,
private, and military hospitals, inpatient and
outpatient clinics, private-practice consulting
rooms, schools, and other institutions.
• These tools are used to help screening for or
diagnosing behavior problems.
• A school psychologist clinically evaluates a
child experiencing learning difficulties to
determine what factors are primarily
responsible for it.
• ■ A psychotherapy researcher uses assessment
procedures to determine if a particular method of
psychotherapy is effective in treating a particular
problem.
• To collect more information about patient/client
• ?
• ■ A psychologist retained by an insurance company is
called on to give an opinion as to the reality of a client’s
psychological problems; is the client really experiencing
such problems or just malingering/ faking/exaggerating
symptoms?
• To collect more information about patient/client ?
• ■ A court-appointed psychologist is asked to
give an opinion as to a defendant’ competency
to stand trial.
• ?
• Does she/he have mental retardation or a psychiatric disorder?

• ■ A prison psychologist is called on to give an

opinion regarding the extent of a convicted
violent prisoner’s rehabilitation.
• In general the tests employed in clinical
settings may be intelligence tests, personality
tests, neuropsychological tests, or other
specialized instruments
• Counseling settings
• Assessment in a counseling context may occur
in environments as diverse as schools, prisons,
and government or some institutions.
• Referral questions to be answered range from
“How can this child better focus on tasks?” to
“For what career is the client best suited?” to
“What activities are recommended for
retirement?”………………
• Geriatric settings :???
• It’s not yet popular in our country.
• In USA more than 12 million adults are currently in the
age range of 75 to 84;
• Quality of life is very important for elder adults in USA.
And so, they are refered to assess their lifestyle-related
variables.
• Depression, anxiety, loneliness….are the basic topics
when we assess them.
• What about our country and geriatry?
• ***Few experts work in this field.***Elder people in our country have
different problems such as low income..
• Business and military settings
• Decision making about the careers of personnel.

• ** Before deciding career of a person, you should have some

important information about himself, such as this person’s stress
level, coping style or personality.
• If you will give a gun to a person, firstly you have to be sure that
he has no psychological disorder.
• Governmental and organizational credentialing:
• One of the many applications of measurement is in governmental licensing,
certification, or general credentialing of professionals.
• An examination of a health care provider's credentials to determine if they
should be granted clinical privileges at a health care facility or with a managed
care organization.
• Before they are legally entitled to practice medicine, physicians must pass an
examination.

• ***In Turkey, the university administration will give a certificate and you can
start working as a psychologist in a clinic.
***Internships are required in many universities but still not enough
• EX. Law-school graduates cannot present themselves to the
public as lawyers until they pass their state’s examination.
 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.
•
• This is so because of published guidelines for test use
promulgated in the Standards.
• Test users have some obligations before,
during, and after a test or any measurement
procedure is administered.
• ???
• Before a test is administered,
• What should a psychologist do? Whata are their
responsibilities?
• 1) You should make first interview. ?
• First interview
• Ask demographic information
• Ask him why he came here.—All symptoms….Functionality….
• Family life…Major life events…
• Ask if he has received psychiatric treatment before.
• Investigate the psychiatric history of his family.?
• Previous treatment
• Suicide ? Suicide attempt, Suicide ideation
• 2) Select the best/appopriate test for the
client/patient.

• (Psychiatrist may have asked you to do certain tests.

• You can also make a new test or tests based on your
observations.)
• ?
• 3)Before a test is administered, the test
content must be kept confidentially.

• (Ex..Don’t say it is a personality test or intelligence

test !!
• «I'm going to do a test to understand why you're in
trouble»)
• 4) The test administrator must have taken the
test training….
• have certificate….
• The psychologist must have administered this
test before

• WISC-IV, WISC-R…
• 5) The test administrator should give information
about the test.
• It is MMPI.
• I'm going to do it to understand why you're in trouble.
It includes 566 items. You have to choice only one
option. Yes or no
• Let's do the first one or two questions together
• Don't think much about options
• Usually the first option you think is right for you

• I think it took me about 2 minutes to say this

• 6) The test administrator (or examiner) must be
familiar with the test materials and procedures
• (experience required!)
• 7)Test users have the responsibility of
ensuring that the room in which the test will
be conducted is suitable.
• For example
• If it’s a noisy room, you should prefer to
change your room or postpone the
appointment.
• To the extent that it is possible, distracting
conditions such as excessive noise, heat, cold,
interruptions, inadequate ventilation, and so
forth should be avoided.
• Of course, you may not always have an ideal
test environment !!!
• Please try to do the best.
• During test administration, what should a
psychologist do?
• Rapport !!!???

Relationship between the examiner and the

examinee can be critically important.
• In this context, rapport may be defined as a
working relationship between the examiner
and the examinee.
• Such a working relationship can sometimes be
achieved with a few words of small talk when
examiner and examinee are introduced.

• (Especially if you work with children! You can

draw sth together, talk about sth about
his/her life.)
• After a test administration, test users have many
obligations as well. What are they?
• 1)These obligations range from safeguarding
the test protocols to conveying the test results
• 2) In addition, there are other obligations such as
those related to scoring the test.
• If a test is to be scored, test administor need to be in
agreement about scoring criteria.
• 1.examineer WISC-IV score = 2. examineer’ S WISC-IV
score
• 1.examineer’s WISC-IV score = 88
• 2. examineer’ S WISC-IV score= 128 !!! That’ s not
possible ! There is a big mistake
• 3)Interpreting the test results
• You should collect data from different
resources.
• Test result, your observation, interview, family
interview….
• Integrate all these informations about the
client
• 4)Give information about the test results.
• How should you do that ?
• The report you write to a specialist cannot be
the same as the report you give to the person
you are testing or the family of that person.
• Example:For a mental health professionals=
You should write IQ score, etc.
• For the patient / patient’s family= You should
write the meaning of IQ score, functioning
level, etc
• Assessment of people with disabilities:
• People with disabilities are assessed for exactly
the same reasons that people with no
disabilities are assessed: to obtain
employment, to earn a professional credential,
to be screened for psychopathology, and so
forth.
• A student with a hearing impairment may be
administered the test in sign language.
• An individual with ADHD might have an
extended evaluation time, with frequent
breaks during periods of evaluation.
• Although this may all seem simple at first, it
can actually become quite complicated.