Paper III: Psychological

Assessment

Subtitle
Unit III: Psychological Tests
• Nature & Definition
• Historical Perspective
• Setting and Purpose of test
• Characteristics of Examinees: Effects of Examiner
• Use of Psychological tests
• Major Classification of Psychological Tests
• General Procedures of testing: Administration, Types of score, Interpretation of results
• Report Writing: in education, psychiatry, legal setting.
• Skills in sharing the findings with Client/ Family/ Professional Colleague
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Nature & Definition
 Each field uses measuring tools and units.

For example: If you're shopping for a computer, you may have

heard of a "byte, RAM, ROM“

As a psychological measurement student, you must know how to

use some of the most common units and tools.

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 Testing and Assessment
Psychological testing and judging began in early 20th-century
France.

In 1905, Alfred Binet and a colleague created a test to help Paris
schoolchildren choose classes.

Binet's test affected more than Paris schools. Within a decade,

Binet's test was translated into English for US schools.

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 When the US entered World War I in 1917, the military needed a way to
quickly screen many new recruits for mental and emotional issues.
 Psychological testing inspired this method. The military used
psychological tests even more during World War II to recruit.
 After the war, more psychological tests were created and used to measure
more factors. Intelligence, personality, brain function, job performance,
and many other factors were tested.

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 Psychological Testing and Assessment Defined

 In the early 20th century, Binet's test became popular, leading to more tests,
developers, publishers, users, and a testing enterprise.
 "Testing" was used for everything from giving a test ("Testing in progress") to
interpreting a score ("The testing showed that...").
 "Testing" was a good way to describe thousands of new recruits in World War I.
 That's when testing became a common term for professionals and laypeople.
 Postwar textbooks like Chapman, 1921; Hull, 1922; Spearman, 1927 use "testing" to
mean everything from giving a test to figuring out what it means. By World War II,
testing and assessment, a broader term, began to differ.

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 Psychological testing and assessment are interchangeable in everyday speech.
 Despite numerous editions of "psychological testing" textbooks, the difference between
the two terms remains unclear.
 The distinction matters. These two terms and related terms like "psychological test user"
and "psychological assessor" should be clearly defined and distinguished for the benefit
of society.
 Clear definitions could also help end the turf wars between psychologists and non-
psychologists who want to use psychological tests

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 PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS
 Psychological tests collect samples of behaviour related to thinking and feeling and
score and evaluate them.

 It's crucial to understand this definition's main terms before discussing tests.
Psychological tests must meet all the definition's criteria.

 But it's important to remember that psychological tests are just samples of how people
act. Everything else is based on what you think you know.

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27/12/2023 10
 Psychological tests are "standardised" for two reasons: fairness and
impartiality.
 First, tests must be administered, scored, and interpreted consistently.
 Naturally, where, when, how, and who gives a test affects its results.
 Standardising test procedures ensures that everything in the examiner's
control is as similar as possible, so everyone takes the test the same way.

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 The second way to think about standardisation is in terms of how standards are
used to judge test results.
 Most of the time, these standards come from the norms of a group of people who
helped make the test. This group is called the normative or standardisation sample.
 The averages and ranges of how well the standardisation group or groups did as a
whole are added up and become the standard by which the performance of other
people is measured. who take the test after it has been made the same for everyone.

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 "Test" should only be used when test-takers' answers are graded.
 These tools always assess cognitive functioning, knowledge, skills, and abilities.
 However, inventories, questionnaires, surveys, checklists, schedules, and projective
techniques that do not evaluate or score answers are called personality tests.
 These tools reveal a person's motivations, preferences, attitudes, interests, opinions,
emotional makeup, and typical responses to people, situations, and stimuli.

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 Most questions are multiple-choice or true-false.
 Projective methods ask open-ended questions.
 They can also make you choose between two options or rate your agreement or
disagreement with statements.
 Most personality inventories, questionnaires, and other similar tools are self-
reporting, but some ask parents, spouses, or teachers for feedback.
 For convenience and standardisation. Ability tests assess knowledge, skills, and
cognition. The rest will be personality tests.

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 Other Terms Used in Connection with Tests
and Test Titles
 Some other terms that are used, sometimes loosely, in connection with tests bear
explaining. One of these is the word scale, which can refer to

 a whole test made up of several parts, for example, the Stanford-Binet Intelligence
Scale

 a subtest, or set of items within a test, that measures a distinct and specific
characteristic, for example, the Depression scale of the Minnesota Multiphasic
Personality Inventory (MMPI)

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 an array of subtests that share some common characteristic, for example, the Verbal
scales of the Wechsler intelligence tests

 a separate instrument made up of items designed to evaluate a single characteristic,

for example, the Internal-External Locus of Control Scale (Rotter, 1966); or

 the numerical system used to rate or to report value on some measured dimension,
for example, a scale ranging from 1 to 5, with 1 meaning strongly disagree and 5
strongly agree.

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 So, when talking about psychological tests, the word "scale" has become vague
and hard to understand.

 But in the field of psychological measurement, also called psychometrics, the

word "scale" means something more specific.

 It means a group of things that all have to do with the same variable and are put
in order of how hard or intense they are. Scaling is the process of figuring out
how to put the items in order.

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 Test titles often include "battery."

 A battery is a set of subtests given to the same person. A publisher often names a
group of tests "battery" and treats them as a single instrument.

 Neuropsychological instruments like the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological

Battery test many cognitive functions separately to determine brain function.

 "Battery" can also refer to a group of tests a psychologist uses with a client to
answer a referral question, usually diagnostic.

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 HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL
TESTING
 Psychological tests are most often used to help make decisions about people.
 It's no coincidence that the first modern psychological tests were developed in the
early 1900s. Most people didn't have to make decisions about people outside their
immediate families or close friends before urban, industrial, democratic societies
grew. In rural, agrarian, autocratic societies, parents, mentors, rulers, and, most
importantly, gender, class, place, and circumstances of birth determined most major
life decisions.
 There are some intriguing examples of modern psychological testing from pre-20th-
century cultures.

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Antecedents of Modern Testing in the
Occupational Realm
 Any field asks how to hire the best people. The ancient Chinese empire's
competitive exams to hire moral people for government jobs are the earliest known
psychological testing.

 This ancestor of modern hiring methods has changed many times since 200 B.C.E.
(Bowman, 1989). The Chinese civil service exams included music, archery,
horsemanship, and written tests in law, agriculture, and geography.

 This smart way to use human resources may have been inspired by China's lack of
hereditary ruling classes until the 20th century.

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 Local officials from anywhere in the empire could recommend candidates to the
emperor.

 Chinese imperial examinations ended in 1905. College performance replaced it.

 However, this system led to civil service exams in Britain in the 1850s and the U.S.
Civil Service Examination in the 1860s (DuBois, 1970).

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Antecedents of Modern Testing in Clinical
Psychology

 Psychological testing can help distinguish "normal" from "abnormal" in

intellectual, emotional, and behavioural domains.

 Psychopathology was shrouded in mystery and mysticism for a much longer

time than occupational or educational contexts.

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 (Bondy, 1974) The field of psychiatry is where some of the first psychological tests
came from.

 Many of these early tests were made in Germany in the second half of the 19th
century, but some of them were made in France in the first half of that century.

 Almost always, these tools were made with the specific goal of figuring out how well
people with different kinds of disorders, like mental retardation or brain damage, can
think.

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 In these early tests, questions about the meaning of proverbs and the differences or
similarities between pairs of words, as well as memory tasks like repeating a series of
digits that were read out loud, were used to measure behaviour.

 Many of the 19th-century tests were clever and are still used today (see McReynolds,
1986).

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 Early clinical test developers were smart, but two things held them back. One was
the lack of knowledge and myths about psychopathology.

 Thus, the difference between psychosis and mental retardation wasn't clarified until
1838, when the French psychiatrist Esquirol said that a person's language ability is
the best indicator of their intelligence.

 The lack of standardisation in how the early psychiatric tests were done and
interpreted prevented them from being widely used.

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 19th-century neurologists and psychiatrists like Guislain, Snell, von Grashey,
Rieger, and others developed most of their methods to study one or more
patients.

 Clinicians interpreted these unorganised behaviour samples using their

professional judgement rather than normative data (Bondy, 1974).

 In the 1890s, when Emil Kraepelin tried to group mental disorders by

their causes, symptoms, and courses, he made a big step forward in the
field of psychiatry.

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 Kraepelin wanted to apply the scientific method to psychiatry. He helped define the
clinical picture of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, which were called dementia
praecox and manic-depressive psychosis, respectively, at the time.

 He came up with a way to compare sane and crazy people based on things like how
easily they get distracted, how sensitive they are, and how much they can remember.

 He was also the first person to use the free association technique with psychiatric
patients. Some of Kraepelin's students came up with a battery of tests and kept
working towards the goals he had set, but the results were not as good as they had
hoped (DuBois, 1970).

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Use of Psychological Tests
Distinguish five uses of tests:
• Classification
• Diagnosis and treatment planning
• Self-knowledge
• Program evaluation
• Research

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 Classification
 Classification is a process of assigning a person to one category rather than
another.

 It can have important effects, such as granting or restricting access to a

specific college or determining whether a person is hired for a particular job.

 There are many variant forms of classification, each emphasising a

particular purpose in assigning people to categories. These include
placement, screening, certification, and selection.

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 Placement
Placement is the sorting of persons into different programs appropriate to
their needs or skills.

For example, universities often use a mathematics placement exam to

determine whether students should enrol in calculus, algebra, or remedial
courses.

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 Screening
 Screening is the term for quick and easy tests or procedures to find people who might have
unique traits or needs.

 Psychometricians typically agree that screening tests will lead to numerous misclassifications.

 As a result, before making crucial decisions based solely on screening tests, examiners are
advised to conduct additional follow-up testing.

 For instance, a psychologist might give every student in a school system a 10-minute paper-
and-pencil test to identify those with highly exceptional talent in spatial thinking.

 The top 10% of students may then be chosen for additional testing that is more in-depth.

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 Certification
Selection and certification both have a pass/fail characteristic. Gaining
certification confers advantages.

The ability to drive a car or practise psychology are two examples.

As a result, certification typically suggests that a person has at least a basic
level of proficiency in a particular subject or activity. In that it grants
privileges like the chance to attend a university or land a job, selection is
similar to certification.

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 Diagnosis
 Psychological tests are also used to make diagnoses and formulate treatment
plans.

 Finding the nature and cause of a person's abnormal behaviour and

categorising the behaviour pattern within a recognised diagnostic framework
are the two intertwined tasks that make up diagnosis.

 The diagnosis of personal distress or poor performance is typically followed

by remediation or treatment.

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 When it comes to diagnosis and treatment planning, psychological tests
are frequently crucial.
 For instance, intelligence assessments are crucial for identifying mental
retardation.
 Testing of personality can help us determine the type and severity of
emotional disturbance.
 In fact, some exams, like the MMPI, were created specifically to improve
the effectiveness of psychiatric diagnosis.
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 The diagnosis should entail more than just categorization and labelling.
 A proper diagnosis communicates information about the condition's strengths,
weaknesses, aetiology, and recommended courses of action for treatment.
 It is largely useless to be aware that a child has a learning disability.
However, knowing that the same child also has poor reading comprehension,
is easily distracted, and requires assistance with fundamental phonics can
offer a crucial foundation for treatment planning.

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 Self-awareness
 Psychological tests are another effective tool for gaining self-awareness.
 In some instances, the results of psychological tests can change a person's career or other
aspects of their life.
 Not all psychological testing results in self-awareness. The client may already be aware of
what the test results reveal in most situations.
 It is rare for a high-functioning college student to be shocked to learn that his IQ is above
average. Being told that she has excellent spatial reasoning abilities does not surprise an
architect. A student with poor reading skills is typically not surprised to hear that they have
a "learning disability."

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Characteristics of Examinees: Effect of
Examiner
 The Importance Of Rapport
 Examiners are advised by test publishers to create a friendly, welcoming
environment that will inspire test takers and encourage cooperation.
 A key component of valid testing is creating a friendly testing environment. A
subject may react with anxiety, passive-aggressive non-cooperation, or open
hostility to a tester who is unable to build rapport.
 Test results are distorted when rapport is not established, underestimating
ability and misjudging personality.

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 In individual testing and especially when evaluating children, rapport is
crucial.
 Wechsler (1974) noted that developing rapport places high demands on the
tester's clinical abilities: Before starting the more important task of
administering the test, the examiner may start a casual conversation with the
child to help him feel comfortable in his surroundings.

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 Although it may be preferable to encourage a shy child to talk about something
concrete in the environment—a picture on the wall, an animal in his
classroom, or a book or toy (not a test material) in the examination room—
talking to him about his hobbies or interests is frequently a good way to break
the ice.
 Generally speaking, this initial phase need only last 5 to 10 minutes, but
testing shouldn't begin until the child appears relaxed enough to give his best
effort.
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 The ability of test subjects to build rapport may vary.
 It's likely that subjects will cooperate less with cold testers, which will lead to
lower performance on ability tests or distorted, defensive results on
personality tests.
 Overly attentive testers may err by providing subtle (and occasionally overt)
cues to the right answers.
 Avoiding either extreme is advised.

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 Examiner Sex, Experience, and Race
The question of whether certain examiner traits influence test-taker scores
to be higher or lower on examinees has been the subject of extensive
research.

Does it matter, for instance,

if the examiner is a woman or a man?

not vice or experienced?

similar or different from the examinee's race?

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 With a few exceptions, we will resist the urge to review these studies for the
following reason:
 The results are inconclusive because they are contradictory.
 The majority of studies find that the examiner's sex, experience, and race
don't really matter, if at all.
 Furthermore, other studies that show the opposite trend contradict the few
studies that claim a significant effect in one direction (for example, female
examiners result in higher IQ scores).

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 However, it would be foolish to assume that factors like the examiner's sex,
experience, or race have no impact on test results.
 An examiner trait may, in rare cases, have a significant impact on test results for
the examinee.
 For instance, Terrell, Terrell, and Taylor (1981) cleverly showed that African
American test subjects' level of trust in the examiner in IQ testing is
significantly influenced by the examiner's race.
 African American college students with high and low levels of mistrust of
whites were identified by these researchers.
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 Half of each group was then given the WAIS by a white examiner, and the other half by an
African American examiner. With average IQs of 96 compared to 86, the high-mistrust
group with an African American examiner outperformed the high-mistrust group with a
white examiner. The low-trust group with a white examiner also performed slightly better
than the low-trust group with an African American examiner (average IQs of 97 versus 92,
respectively).
 Overall, the authors came to the conclusion that when tested by white examiners,
untrusting African Americans perform poorly. There is definitely room for more research
because there is a dearth of information regarding this kind of racial effect.

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 Examinees vary not only in the qualities that the examiners want to evaluate, but also in other
unrelated ways that could skew the test results.
 For instance, a smart student may struggle on a timed aptitude test due to test anxiety; a sane
murderer may attempt to appear mentally ill on a personality inventory in order to avoid being
prosecuted; and a student of average ability may receive coaching to help them perform better
on an aptitude test.
 Some test takers have a complete lack of motivation and don't give a damn about their
performance. Because of the filtering and distortion effects of certain examinee characteristics,
such as anxiety, malingering, coaching, or cultural background, the test results could be
unreliable in any of these situations.

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 Test Anxiety

The phenomenological, physiological, and behavioural reactions that come

along with worry about potentially failing a test are referred to as test
anxiety.

There's no denying that participants experience varying degrees of test

anxiety, from a carefree attitude to paralysing dread at the thought of being
tested.

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 The commonsense idea that test anxiety is negatively correlated with academic
success, scores on aptitude tests, and measures of intelligence has been
supported by a large body of research (e.g., Chapell, Blanding, & Silverstein,
2005; Naveh-Benjamin, McKeachie, & Lin, 1987; Ortner & Caspers, 2011).
 However, it is not simple to interpret these correlational findings. One
explanation is that students who have a history of failing tests may experience
test anxiety. That is, the performance declines may come before and contribute
to test anxiety.

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 According to Paulman and Kennelly (1984), many test-anxious students exhibit ineffective
test taking in academic settings, regardless of their test anxiety. Regardless of their level of
anxiety, these students would perform poorly on tests.

 Furthermore, Naveh-Benjamin et al. (1987) found that many college students who
experience test anxiety have poor study habits that make them more likely to perform
poorly on exams. These subjects' lifelong frustration over subpar test results is one cause of
their test anxiety.

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Test anxiety is directly detrimental to test performance, according to additional lines of
research.
In other words, the relationship between test anxiety and subpar test performance is likely
both a cause and an effect.

Consider Sarason's (1961) seminal study on the subject, in which he tested subjects with
varying levels of anxiety by giving them either neutral or anxiety-inducing instructions.

College students were the subjects, and they were given the challenging assignment of
memorising meaningless two-syllable words. Neutral instructions were given to the other half
of the subjects, who were only instructed to memorise the lists.

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The remaining participants were instructed to memorise the lists and were informed that the
assignment was an intelligence test. They were told to do as well as they could.

When the instructions were impartial and non-threatening, there was little performance
difference between the two groups.

But when the instructions caused anxiety, the high-anxious subjects' performance levels
sharply declined, placing them at a significant disadvantage in comparison to the low-anxious
subjects.

This suggests that individuals who are test-anxious perform significantly worse when they
think of the situation as a test. A simple redefinition of the context, however, has little impact
on subjects who are relatively less anxious.

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 People with high levels of test anxiety may particularly struggle with tests that have strict
time constraints.

 Test-anxious people appear to perform significantly worse when under time pressure
because it seems to increase the feeling of personal threat.

 By comparing the performance levels of high- and low-anxious medical/psychiatric

patients on timed and untimed WAIS subtests, Siegman (1956) made this point decades
ago

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 The WAIS consists of eleven subtests, six of which have strict time limits enforced by the
examiner using a stopwatch and five of which allow the subject unlimited time to respond.

 Interestingly, the overall WAIS ability of the high- and low-anxious subjects was equal.

 However, each group performed exceptionally well on various subtests in predictable

patterns. In particular, on timed subtests, the low-anxious subjects outperformed the high-
anxious subjects, whereas the opposite pattern was seen on untimed subtests

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 Motivation to Deceive
If the test-taker exhibits poor or unrepresentative performance, test results
may also be unreliable.

Although it is uncommon, overt test result fabrication does occur.

A small percentage of people seeking assistance from social or rehabilitation

organisations will purposefully perform poorly on personality and aptitude
tests.

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 Report Writing
 With the exception of group testing, psychological testing always results in a written
report that serves as a semi-permanent record of the test results and examiner
recommendations. The ability to write reports effectively is crucial given the potential
long-term effects of the written work.

 Responsible reports typically avoid using jargon and technical terms and write clearly
and simply.

 The objective of a report should be to offer the client useful perspectives, not to
demonstrate to the referral source how intelligent the examiner is!

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 The psychological report gives the professional psychologist the chance to discuss the
assessment's findings in a case-focused, problem-solving manner.

 Its main objective is to support the referral source's client-related decision-making.

 Thus, it stands for the final result of evaluation. A good report will follow general
guidelines and have a flexible but established structure.

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 The most common categories of reports revolve around issues in the areas of
neuropsychology, personality / psychopathology, and intelligence / achievement. Aphasia,
neuro behavioural, developmental, adaptive / functional, and behavioural medicine /
rehabilitation are additional, less common categories.

 The most frequent general problems involve diagnosing a client's condition and
determining the best course of action.

 Each of the various assessment categories requires a different set of assessment tools,
understanding of the level of difficulty, awareness of the context (educational, legal,
medical, rehabilitation, forensic), and familiarity with the various community resources.
The report will then incorporate this information to make it more problem-focused and
pertinent to the referral source.

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 GENERALGUIDELINES
Length of the Report
The report's length varies a lot between different referral settings.
Psychological reports have typically been four to seven single-spaced pages
long.
Psychological reports rarely go over two pages in medical settings where
timeliness is essential.
However, due to the demands of managed healthcare for time and cost
efficiency, psychological reports also seem to be getting shorter in a wider
range of contexts.

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 Legal contexts, on the other hand, demand much more information, demand greater
accountability, frequently have more complicated referral questions, and involve more
accommodating, generous methods of reimbursement.

 Reports frequently run between seven and ten pages, sometimes even longer.

 As a result, reports are shaped by and formatted in accordance with the standards of other
health professionals working in the contexts for which psychologists write.

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 Degree of Emphasis

The degree of emphasis placed on various points is another important aspect

of a well-written report.

The conclusion can then be stated in the report if the supporting evidence is
strong, consistent, and clear.

Other information may be more speculative, in which case it should be

written with the appropriate amount of hesitancy.

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 Domains

 Ideal presentation and organisation of test interpretations revolves around particular

domains.

 The kinds of questions the referral source is requesting should serve as the basis for
choosing which domains to include. The types of assessment tools used and the kinds of
questions posed about the collected data are largely determined by these questions.

 The number of domains will differ greatly because each client is unique and inhabits a
unique context.

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 Relevant domains in a psychoeducational context may concern cognitive
capacity, degree of achievement, existence of a learning disability, or
learning style.

 On the other hand, a report created to evaluate personality or

psychopathology might place more of an emphasis on areas like coping style,
Level of emotional maturity, risk of suicide, traits requiring
psychotherapeutic treatment, or a diagnosis.

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 Results from tests may occasionally be displayed test by test. The benefit of doing this is
that it makes it obvious where the data came from.

 However, there is a chance that it will be more test- and data-focused than people-focused.

 According to research, report readers do not find this style to be "user friendly."
Additionally, it shows a lack of integration of data from numerous sources and suggests
that the practitioner has not conceptualised the case properly.

 Additionally, it promotes a technician-oriented role rather than one in which an

experienced clinician draws on a variety of sources to help a client solve a problem.

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 Deciding What to Include
The referral source has a significant influence on the inclusion decisions. A general rule is
that information should only be included if it contributes to a deeper understanding of the
client.

What is unique rather than what is average usually matters more in this regard. For instance,
it is typically not helpful to describe a client's appearance if they provided modal responses to
the test material and were dressed in typical appropriate attire.

Contrarily, a client who was overly focused on accuracy while disregarding time constraints
and dressed in an unusually formal way does offer helpful behavioural insights. These
observations also provide context for test results, details about coping mechanisms, and a hint
as to the personality type of the subject.

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 Raw Data and Quantitative Scores
In general, it's best to stay away from quantitative scores and raw data in the report's
impressions and interpretations section. They might give the report a cluttered, overly
technical appearance.
However, there are times when giving specific behavioural observations or responses to
chosen items (such as MMPI-2 critical items) can make abstract ideas seem more immediate
and illuminating into the subject's thought processes.
This may help to counteract additional high-level abstractions. Additionally, giving a specific
statistic, like a percentile, can occasionally make a description seem clearer and more
approachable. According to a report, a client with an average IQ had a poor auditory memory,
for instance. It gives some insight into the severity of their difficulties to say they only scored
in the "5th percentile" (or "only five people out of a hundred scored in this range").

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 Client Feedback

A psychological report's assistance in providing client feedback is one of its most

important functions. Clients should be aware of the types of information and
recommendations being made about and for them, which is in line with client
advocacy laws and the American Psychological Association's ethical principles.

Such comments must be understandable, precise, direct, and clear. As a result, results
must be presented in plain language rather than using formal psychological jargon.

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 Additionally, there is mounting evidence that properly integrating client
feedback has positive therapeutic effects.

 As a result, the report (and any associated feedback) may eventually

contribute significantly to the therapeutic process.

 While it is common for feedback to be given verbally, it is also a viable

option to design the written report—or at the very least, an edited version of
the report—to be as helpful to the client as possible.

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 Communication of Test Results
• Individuals who take psychological tests anticipate that the results will be
shared with them.

• Yet practitioners often do not include one-to-one feedback as part of the

assessment.

• A major reason for reluctance is a lack of training in how to provide feedback,

especially when the test results appear to be negative.

• For example, how does a clinician tell a college student that her IQ is 93 when
most students in that college score 115 or higher?
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Providing effective and constructive feedback to clients about their test results is a
challenging skill to learn.

Pope (1992) emphasizes the responsibility of the clinician to determine that the client has
understood adequately and accurately the information that the clinician was attempting to
convey.

Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the clinician to check for adverse reactions:

Is the client exceptionally depressed by the findings?

Is the client inferring from findings suggesting a learning disorder that the
client—as the client has always suspected—is “stupid”?

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Using very careful care to conduct assessment of the client’s understanding of and
reactions to the feedback is no less important than using adequate care in administering
standardized psychological tests; test administration and feedback are equally important,
fundamental aspects of the assessment process.

Proper and effective feedback involves give-and take dialogue in which the clinician to
find something out about the client has perceived the information and seeks to correct
potentially harmful interpretations.

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Destructive feedback often arises when the clinician fails to challenge a client’s incorrect
perceptions about the meaning of test results.

Consider IQ tests in particular—a case in which many persons deify test scores and consider
them an index
of personal worth.

Prior to providing test results, a clinician is advised to investigate the client’s understanding
of what IQ scores mean.

After all, IQ is a limited slice of intellectual functioning: It does not evaluate drive or
character of any kind, it is accurate only to about ±5 points, it may change over time, and it
does not assess many important attributes
such as creativity, social intelligence, musical ability,
or athletic skill.

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But a client may have an unrealistic perspective about IQ and, hence, might jump to
erroneous conclusions when hearing that her score is “only” 93.

The careful practitioner will elicit the client’s views and challenge them when needed
before proceeding.

Going beyond the general formal announcement to avoid harm when providing test
feedback, Finn and Tonsager (1997) present the intriguing view that information about
test results should be directly and immediately therapeutic to individuals experiencing
psychological problems.

In other words, they propose that psychological assessment is a form of short-term

intervention, not just a basis for gathering information that is later used for therapeutic
purposes.

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In one study (Finn & Tonsager, 1992), they examined the effects of a brief psychological
assessment on clients at a university counseling center.

Thirty-two students took part in an initial interview, completed the MMPI-2, and then
received a one-hour feedback session conducted according to a method developed by Finn
(1996).

A comparison group of 29 students was interviewed and received an equal amount of

supportive, nondirective psychotherapy instead of the test feedback.

The clients in the MMPI-2 assessment group showed a greater Decline in symptomatic
distress and a greater increase in self-esteem, immediately following their feedback
session and also two weeks later, than the clients in the comparison group.

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The feedback group also felt more hopeful about their problems after the brief
assessment. These findings illustrate the importance of providing thoughtful
and constructive test feedback instead of rushing through a perfunctory review
of the results.

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Major classification of psychological test /Types
of Tests
Tests can be broadly grouped into two camps: group tests versus individual
tests.
Group tests are largely pencil-and-paper measures suitable to the testing of
large groups of persons at the same time.
Individual tests are instruments that by their design and purpose must be
administered one on one. An important advantage of individual tests is that the
examiner can gauge the level of motivation of the subject and assess the
relevance of other factors (e.g., impulsiveness or anxiety) on the test results.

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For convenience, we will sort tests into the eight categories depicted in Table 1.1. Each of the
categories contains norm-referenced, criterion referenced, individual, and group tests

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In a narrow sense, there are hundreds—perhaps thousands—of different kinds of
tests, each measuring a slightly different aspect of the individual.

For example, even two tests of intelligence might be arguably different types of
measures. One test might reveal the assumption that intelligence is a biological
construct best measured through brain waves, whereas another might be rooted
in the traditional view that intelligence is exhibited in the capacity to learn
acculturated skills such as vocabulary. Lumping both measures under the
category of intelligence tests is certainly an oversimplification, but nonetheless a
useful starting point.

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 Intelligence tests
Intelligence tests were originally designed to sample a broad assortment of skills in order to
estimate the individual’s general intellectual level.

The Binet-Simon scales were successful, in part, because they incorporated heterogeneous
tasks, including word definitions, memory for designs, comprehension questions, and
spatial visualization tasks.

The group intelligence tests that blossomed with such profusion during and after WWII
also tested diverse abilities—witness the Army Alpha with its eight different sections
measuring practical judgment, information, arithmetic, and reasoning, among other skills.

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Modern intelligence tests also emulate this historically established pattern by
sampling a wide variety of proficiencies deemed important in our culture.

In general, the term intelligence test refers to a test that yields an overall summary
score based on results from a heterogeneous sample of items.

such test might also provide a profile of subtest scores as well, but it is the overall
score that generally attracts the most attention.

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 Aptitude tests
Aptitude tests measure one or more clearly defined and relatively homogeneous
segments of ability.

Such tests come in two varieties: single aptitude tests and multiple aptitude test batteries.

A single aptitude test appraises, obviously, only one ability, whereas a multiple aptitude
test battery provides a profile of scores for a number of aptitudes.

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Aptitude tests are often used to predict success in an occupation, training course, or
educational endeavor.

For example, the Seashore Measures of Musical Talents (Seashore, 1938), a series of
tests covering pitch, loudness, rhythm, time, timbre, and tonal memory, can be used
to identify children with potential talent in music. Specialized aptitude tests also exist
for the assessment of clerical skills, mechanical abilities, manual dexterity, and
artistic ability.

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The most common use of aptitude tests is to determine college admissions.

Most every college student is familiar with the SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test,
previously called the Scholastic Aptitude Test) of the College Entrance Examination
Board.

This test contains a Verbal section stressing word knowledge and reading comprehension;
a Mathematics section stressing algebra, geometry, and insightful reasoning; and a
Writing section. In effect, colleges that require certain minimum scores on the SAT for
admission are using the test to predict academic success.

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 Achievement tests
Achievement tests measure a person’s degree of learning, success, or accomplishment in
a subject matter. The implicit assumption of most achievement tests is that the schools
have taught the subject matter directly.

The purpose of the test is then to determine how much of the material the subject has
absorbed or mastered. Achievement tests commonly have several subtests, such as
reading, mathematics, language, science, and social studies.

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The distinction between aptitude and achievement tests is more a matter of use than
content (Gregory, 1994a).

In fact, any test can be an aptitude test to the extent that it helps predict future
performance.

Likewise, any test can be an achievement test insofar as it reflects how much the
subject has learned.

In practice, then, the distinction between these two kinds of instruments is determined
by their respective uses. On occasion, one instrument may serve both purposes, acting
as an aptitude test to forecast future performance and an achievement test to monitor
past learning.

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 Creativity tests
Creativity tests assess a subject’s ability to
produce new ideas, insights, or artistic
creations that are accepted as being of social,
aesthetic, or scientific value.
Thus, measures of creativity emphasize
novelty and originality in the solution of
fuzzy problems or the production of artistic
works.
A creative response to one problem is
illustrated in Figure 1.1.

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Tests of creativity have a history with problems. In the 1960s, they were touted as a
useful alternative to intelligence tests and used widely in U.S. school systems. Educators
were especially impressed that creativity tests required divergent thinking—putting forth
a variety of answers to a complex or fuzzy problem—as opposed to convergent thinking
— finding the single correct solution to a well-defined problem.
For example, a creativity test might ask the examinee to imagine all the things that would
happen if clouds had strings trailing from them down to the ground. Students who could
come up with a large number of consequences were assumed to be more creative than
their less-imaginative colleagues.
However, some psychometricians are skeptical, concluding that creativity is just another
label for applied intelligence.

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 Personality tests
Personality tests measure the traits, qualities, or
behaviors that determine a person’s individuality; this
information helps predict future behavior. These tests
come in several different varieties, including
checklists, inventories, and projective techniques such
as sentence completions and inkblots (Table 1.2).

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 Interest inventories
Interest inventories measure an individual’s preference for certain activities or topics and
thereby help determine occupational choice. These tests are based on the explicit
assumption that interest patterns determine and, therefore, also predict job satisfaction.

For example, if the examinee has the same interests as successful and satisfied
accountants, it is thought likely that he or she would enjoy the work of an accountant.

The assumption that interest patterns predict job satisfaction is largely borne out by
empirical studies

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 BEHAVIORAL PROCEDURES

• Many kinds of behavioural procedures are available for assessing the antecedents and
consequences of behaviour, including checklists, rating scales, interviews, and
structured observations.

• These methods share a common assumption that behaviour is best understood in terms
of clearly defined characteristics such as frequency, duration, antecedents, and
consequences. Behavioural procedures tend to be highly pragmatic in that they are
usually interwoven with treatment approaches.

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 Neuropsychological tests
Neuropsychological tests are used in the assessment of persons with known or suspected
brain dysfunction.
Neuropsychology is the study of brain–behaviour relationships. Over the years,
neuropsychologists
have discovered that certain tests and procedures are highly sensitive to the effects of
brain damage.
Neuropsychologists use these specialized tests and procedures to make inferences about
the locus, extent, and consequences of brain damage.
A full neuropsychological assessment typically requires three to eight hours of one-on-
one testing with an extensive battery of measures. Examiners must undergo
comprehensive advanced training in order to make sense out of the resulting mass of test
data.
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 Test Administration
• The fundamental justification for testing involves projecting from the sample of
behaviour seen in the testing situation to behaviour displayed in other non-test
situations.
• A test result should make it easier for us to anticipate how a client will feel and
behave outside of the clinic, how a student will perform in college courses, and
how a job applicant will behave.
• Any external factors that are unique to the testing environment increase error
variance and lower test reliability.
• Therefore, it's critical to recognise any test-related factors that could restrict or
degrade the applicability of test results.

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Because no one person would typically be concerned with all forms of testing, from the
examination of infants to the clinical testing of psychotic patients are the administration of
a mass testing programme for military personnel, it is more practical to acquire such
technique within a specific setting.

ADVANCED PREPARATION FOR EXAMINERS:

There can be no good testing procedure without advanced preparation, which is the most
crucial requirement.
As a result, special efforts must be made to anticipate and prevent emergencies. You can
only be sure of procedure uniformity here.

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• Advanced testing session preparation takes many different forms.

• In the majority of individual tests, memorization of the exact verbal instructions is crucial.

• Even in a group test where the instructions are made clear to the test-takers, some prior
familiarity with the statements to be read reduces errors and hesitation and allows the test
to be administered in a more relaxed, natural manner.

• Another crucial first step is the preparation of test material.

• Individual testing preparation, particularly in the administration of performance test, entails

the actual organisation of the required materials to make use of them later on easier and
less time-consuming.

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• Generally, materials should be set up on a table close to the testing area so they are easily
accessible for the examiner but do not distract the test taker.

• When using complicated equipment, it may be necessary to perform frequent periodic

checks and calibrations.

• Before the test day, all test blanks, answer sheets, and other materials are carefully
counted, checked, and organised for group testing.

• Another crucial requirement for both individual and group testing is thorough familiarity
with the specific testing process.

• Supervised training in the administration of the specific test is typically necessary for
individual testing.

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• Such training may require as little as a few demonstration and practise sessions or as
much as a year of instruction, depending on the type of test to be administered and the
types of people who will be examined.

• The preparation for group testing, particularly in large-scale projects, may include a
protocol and examiner advance briefing so that each is fully aware of the tasks they are
to complete.

• In most testing rooms, the examiner is in charge of the group, reads the instructions,
manages timing, and oversees the test. The protocols used to distribute and collect test
materials ensure that instructions are followed, respond to each test taker's specific
questions within the parameters outlined in the manual, and discourage cheating.

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 Testing Condition
• The test environment is subject to the same standard operating procedure as verbal
instructions, timing, material, and other aspects of the test itself.
• The selection of an appropriate testing room should receive some consideration.
• In addition to providing adequate lighting, ventilation, seating, and workspace for test-
takers, this space should be free from excessive noise and distractions. Special
precautions should also be taken to prevent interruptions during the test.
• It is effective to post a sign on the door to let people know that testing is taking place,
provided that everyone on staff is aware that it means there will be no admissions.
• It might be necessary to lock the doors during large group testing or to station a helper
outside each door to stop latecomers from entering.

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• It's critical to understand how testing conditions can affect results.

• Performance can be significantly altered by even seemingly unimportant elements of

the testing environment.

• In a group testing project with high school students, a factor like the use of desks or
chairs with desk arms, for instance, showed to be significant; the group using desks
tended to receive a high score.

• There is also proof that the type of answer sheet used can affect test results.

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• Examiners occasionally administer group tests with answer sheets different from those
used in the standardisation sample due to the establishment of independent test scoring
and data processing agencies that provide their own machine-scoring answer sheets.

• The equivalence of these answer sheets cannot be assumed in the absence of empirical
validation.

• The use of any separate answer sheets when testing children under the fifth grade may
significantly lower test scores at these grade levels. It is generally preferable to have
the child mark the answers in the test booklet itself.

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• The potential differences between administering the same test using paper and pencil
versus a computer are even more significant at any age level.

• The impact of such a difference in test administration on norms, reliability, and validity
has received a lot of attention regarding the makeup of the test population and the test's
design.

• To assist test takers in evaluating the comparability of test scores obtained under the
two types of administration, specific professional guidelines have been developed.

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• It has been demonstrated that numerous other, subtler testing conditions have an impact
on test results for both ability and personality.

• The test takers' familiarity or unfamiliarity with the examiner may have a significant
impact on their performance.

• Another study found that the test results were significantly impacted by the examiner's
overall appearance and behaviour, as demonstrated by smiles, nods, and comments like
"Good or fine.“

• The presence of the examiner in the room tended to inhibit the inclusion of strongly
emotional content in the stories in a projective test that required the respondent to write
stories to fit given pictures.

• When taking a typing test, job applicants typed much more quickly when tested
individually than when tested in groups of two or more.
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Three things follow as a result

• Start by carefully following standardised procedure. It is the test author's and publisher's
responsibility to thoroughly and plainly explain this procedure in the test manual.

• Second, note any unusual testing circumstance, no matter how minor.

• Third, consider the testing environment when interpreting test results.

• An experienced examiner may occasionally deviate from the standard test procedure
during a thorough evaluation of a person through individual testing in order to elicit
additional information for unique reasons. In this situation, it is no longer possible to
interpret test results in terms of test norms.

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• In this situation, the test stimuli are only used for qualitative investigation, and the
responses should be viewed in the same light as any other unofficial behavioural or
interview data.

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 Introducing the test: Rapport and Test-Taker
Orientation
• The term "rapport" in test administration refers to the examiner's efforts to stimulate test-takers' interest in
the exam, elicit their cooperation, and motivate them to respond in a way consistent with the test's
objectives.

• The goal of ability tests requires careful attention to the tasks at hand and putting one's best effort to
perform well.

• The objective of self-report personality inventories requires open and truthful answers to questions about
one's typical behaviour. In some projective tests, the objective requires full reporting of associations
elicited by the stimuli without any content censoring or editing.

• Still other test types might call for different strategies. However, the examiner makes an effort in every
situation to persuade the respondents to follow the instructions completely and consistently.

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Techniques for establishing rapport, as well as those more directly related to test
administration, are covered in examiner training, just as they are in other testing
procedures.

If a child receives a covert reward every time she answers a test question correctly, the
conditions must be uniform for results to be comparable; otherwise, her performance
cannot be directly compared to norms or to that of other students who are motivated only
by the usual verbal encouragement or praise.

Any deviation from the expected motivating conditions for a given test should be noted
and taken into consideration when interpreting performance.

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• Despite the fact that rapport can be established more fully during individual testing,
measures can also be taken during group testing to encourage test-takers and lessen
their anxiety.
• The type of test, the person being tested, their age, and other factors all affect the
specific methods for building rapport.
• When evaluating preschoolers, particular factors like distractibility, negativism, and
shyness around strangers should be taken into account.
• The child feels more at ease when the examiner is friendly, upbeat, and relaxed.

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• The timid, shy child requires more time in the beginning to get used to the
surroundings.
• For this reason, it is preferable for the examiner to wait until the child is prepared to
initiate contact before being overly demonstrative at first.
• Test durations should be minimal, and the tasks should be interesting to the child on
their own terms.
• Before introducing each new task, the testing should be presented to the child as a
game and his curiosity should be piqued.
• At this age, a degree of procedural flexibility is required due to the possibility of
rejection, interest loss, and other negative manifestations.
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The game approach is still the most effective way of getting older school students
interested in the test. Children in the first two or three grades of elementary school
present many of the same testing problems as the preschool child.

When testing children from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds who are from
different cultures, the examiner cannot assume that they will be motivated to excel on
academic tasks to the same extent as children in the standardised sample. Instead, the
examiner must appeal to the comprehensive spirit and the desire to do well on tests.

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Testing emotionally disturbed people, prisoners, or juvenile offenders may reveal specific
motivational issues. Such individuals are likely to exhibit a number of unfavourable
attitudes, such as suspicion, insecurity, fear, or cynical indifference, especially when
examined in an institutional setting.

Special circumstances from their prior experiences are also likely to have a negative
impact on how they perform on the test. For instance, they might have feelings of hostility
and inferiority towards academic tasks, which the test resembles, as a result of early
failures and frustrations in school.

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Under these circumstances, the skilled examiner makes extra efforts to build rapport. In
any case, when interpreting and elucidating test performance, he or she must be sensitive
to these unique challenges and take them into consideration.

One should keep in mind that every test presents an implied threat to the reputation of the
subject when administering it to adults or children who are of school age.

Therefore, it would be wise to start off with some assurances. It is beneficial to clarify, for
instance, that no one is required to complete or complete the item correctly. Otherwise, the
test-taker might feel increasingly defeated as he or she moves on to the trickier questions
or is unable to complete any subtest within the allotted time.

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Since the unexpected and unknown are likely to cause anxiety, it is also preferable to
remove surprises from the test situation as much as possible.

In many group tests, the examiner will read an introductory explanation to the class.
Giving each test-taker materials in advance that describe the tests' goals and formats,
offer general advice on how to take them, and include a few sample questions would be
an even better practise.

Participants in numerous extensive testing programmes, such as those run by the College
Board, routinely have access to such explanation booklets.

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Adult testing comes with a few extra issues. Adults are less likely than children to work
diligently on a task just because it has been assigned.

As a result, it is more crucial to "sell" the purpose of the tests to adults, though high school
and college students can also be persuaded with this argument.

The majority of the time, test-takers can be persuaded to cooperate if you can show them
that it is in their own best interests to receive a valid score—a score that accurately reflects
their abilities rather than overstating or understating them.

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The majority of people will comprehend that making the wrong choice, which could be
caused by incorrect test results, would result in failure, wasted time, and frustration.

This strategy can help test takers not only try their hardest on ability tests but also lessen
lying and encourage honest reporting on personality inventories because they are aware
that if they didn't, they would be the losers.

Individuals should not be assigned to jobs they cannot perform or find enjoyable or
admitted to academic programmes for which they lack the necessary background
knowledge and skills.

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 Scoring
Parents and teachers are given access to the results of any standardised tests that students
take in class, whether they are given individually or in groups. It's critical that educators and
parents comprehend what standardised test results mean.
The majority of psychological tests either use standard scores or percentiles to report the
results.
When comparing a student's performance on a test to a representative sample of students of
the same age from the general population, standard scores and percentiles are used.

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The term "norm group" refers to this comparison sample or group.

Standard scores are typically reported with a corresponding confidence interval to account for
measurement error because educational and psychological tests do not always accurately
reflect abilities and traits.

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 Standard Score
The majority of psychological and educational tests offer standard scores based on a
scale with a statistical mean (or average score) of 100.
A student is said to have performed below the mean if their standard score is less than or
equal to one hundred, and above the mean if their standard score is greater than one
hundred.
The majority of students receive standard scores on educational and psychological tests
that range from 85 to 115, but there is a wide range of average scores, from low average
to high average.
This range is regarded as the normal range of functioning because it encompasses how
68% of the general population functions.

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 Classifying Standard Score
However, the three classification categories that make up the normal range of
functioning are low average (standard scores of 80 to 89), average (standard scores of
90 to 109), and high average (110 to 119).
School psychologists and other assessment experts frequently use these categories to
describe a student's aptitude in comparison to peers of the same age in the general
population.

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 Sub Test Scores
The mean of the multiple subtests that make up many psychological tests is 10, 50, or 100.
Short tests called subtests are used to assess particular skills like vocabulary, general
knowledge, or short-term auditory memory.
It is typical to combine two or more subtest results that represent various facets of a single
broad ability (such as broad verbal ability) into a composite or index score with a mean of
100.
To create a comprehensive Verbal Comprehension Index score, for instance, the three
subtest scores that reflect the various facets of Verbal Ability—vocabulary,
comprehension, and general information—might be combined. Individual subtest scores
are less trustworthy and valid than composite scores like IQ, Index, and Cluster scores.

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Therefore, the composite score (in this case, the Verbal Comprehension Index) is the
most reliable and valid score when a student's performance demonstrates relatively
uniform ability across subtests that measure various aspects of the same broad ability
(the Vocabulary, Comprehension, and General Information subtest scores are all
average).

The Verbal Comprehension Index may not be a reliable indicator of verbal ability,
though, when a student's performance indicates uneven ability across subtests that assess
various aspects of the same broad ability (the Vocabulary score is below average, the
Comprehension score is below average, and the General Information score is high
average).

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Looking at how each subtest is scored will help you better understand the student's
verbal ability in this case.

In conclusion, it is critical to keep in mind that the overall score, in this case the Verbal
Comprehension Index, may be a misleading estimate unless performance is fairly
consistent across the subtests that comprise a specific broad ability domain (such as
Verbal Ability).

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 Percentile
To help with comprehension, standard scores may also be reported with a percentile.
The percent of members of the norm group who received a particular score or lower is
represented by a percentile.
A student who received a standard score of 100, for instance, performed at the 50th
percentile. This indicates that the student outperformed 50% of his or her peers of the same
age in the general population.
A percentile rank of 25 corresponds to a typical score of 90. Just as a student who is
reported to be at the 75th percentile performed equally well or better than 75% of students
of the same age, so did a student who was reported to be at the 25th percentile.
Even though the standard score of 90 is below the statistical mean of 100 and at the 25th
percentile, it still falls within the range of average performance and typically does not raise
any cause for alarm.

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 Z-Scores
• These scores are scaled on a number line ranging from -4 to 4.
• On this scale, zero is average.
• Positive scores are above average, and negative scores are below average.

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 T-Scores

• These scores range in intervals of 10 from 10 to 90 points.

• Fifty is average on this scale, and the average range is usually between 40
and 60.

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 Stanine Score
• The stanine scale is also called the standard nine scale.
• These scores range from 1 to 9, with 5 being average.
• Scores below 5 are below average.
• Scores above 5 are above average.

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 Raw Score

An elementary and basic level of information provided by a psychological test, for

example, the number of questions answered correctly.

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 Interpretation Of Results
The interpretation to be accurate, the test must have been created in a valid manner and
administered and scored with the least amount of error possible.

Due to the fact that tests are never completely valid, interpretations should also discuss
the test's limitations as influenced by known and probable sources of error.

Without such disclaimers, you risk interpreting the results of the measurement techniques
you use incorrectly.

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Traditionally, test interpretation has placed a strong emphasis on norms, especially in
educational settings.

A test score in norm-referenced tests is interpreted by contrasting it with a group of

scores.

for instance, that a student in the third grade who performed at the 90th percentile on an
achievement test. It is common to compare norm-referenced test interpretations to
criterion-referenced test interpretations, which compare test results to a standard rather
than to other people.

The teacher may have set a requirement of 30 correct answers for students to pass the
course, but that same third-grade student may have answered correctly 35 of 40 test
items that assessed previously taught material.

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Interpretations of other kinds are also beneficial. Interpretation of formative tests
concentrates on a person's performance on the course's elements.

A formative test in a maths class, for instance, might reveal the specific types of addition or
subtraction problems that a certain student answered correctly and incorrectly.

Formative tests during a course offer feedback to the teacher and student that reveals
progress and directs modification of the instruction.

This process in education is referred to as a loop by Cross and Angelo (1988) who stated
that it goes "from teaching technique to feedback on student learning to revision of the
technique"

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Summative exams offer a comprehensive assessment of a student's performance in a course
(such as a course grade). Data from summative tests are useful for administrative decision-
making.
Summative tests can offer preliminary teaching-related hypotheses: For instance, a
standardised achievement test can identify a student's strengths and weaknesses across
subjects (in comparison to other students).
This information may be important for inclusion or exclusion in a programme of study (such
as a course for remediation or retaking a grade). Formative tests can be helpful in this
situation because more sensitive methods will be required to develop and test those
hypotheses (Bloom, Hastings, & Madaus, 1971; Cross & Angelo, 1988).
Summative tests are interpreted based on an overall score (of items and components),
whereas formative test administrators typically focus on item response patterns (Bloom et
al., 1971).

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The literature has focused much more on how test administrators or researchers interpret test
results than on how test-takers comprehend them.

Research into the Barnum effect is one exception to this rule. Making comparisons with
other test interpretation types is necessary to determine the validity of a specific test
interpretation.

The Barnum effect happens when people take a test and get test interpretations that aren't
based on their test results but rather on straightforward generalisations that could apply to
anyone, like those found in horoscopes ("Work hard today and your efforts will pay off").

Such false feedback is typically just as accurate for test-takers as the test interpretations
themselves.

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Using fictitious reports, Guastello and Rieke (1990) assessed the reliability of actual
computer-based test interpretations (CBTIs) based on 16PF scores (a personality inventory).

The real reports were rated as 76% accurate and the fake reports as 71% accurate by a sample
of 54 college students. Because many people attribute increased credibility to computer
operations, computer-based reports are likely to amplify the Barnum effect.

More clinical training is needed for the interpretation of test results than just administration.
Threats to the reliability of any self-report psychological measure require the test interpreter
to be familiar with the test and test construction principles. In fact, failing to have this
knowledge would be against the psychology profession's code of ethics when interpreting test
results (APA, 2010).

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According to the Social Security Administration (SSA), psychological tests must be
"individually administered by a qualified specialist... currently licenced or certified in the state
to administer, score, and interpret psychological tests and have the training and experience to
perform the test.“

The majority of clinical psychologists with doctoral degrees who have received training in
administering psychometric tests have also received training in test interpretation.

Additionally, SSA (n.d.) mandates that those who conduct more in-depth cognitive or
neuropsychological tests "be properly trained in this area of neuroscience."

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Therefore, it may be necessary to interpret tests of a cognitive nature by clinical
neuropsychologists, who have received specialised training to interpret test results within
the context of brain-behavior relationships and who have met certain educational and
training benchmarks as defined by national professional organisations (AACN, 2007;
NAN, 2001).

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Use of Interpreters and Other Nonstandardized Test
Administration Techniques
By potentially introducing systematic error into the testing process, modifications to
procedures, such as the use of interpreters and the administration of nonstandardized
assessment procedures, may present particular difficulties for the psychologist.
Language, the use of translators, or the examinee's abilities (such as sensory, perceptual,
and/or motor capacity) may all be factors in these errors.
For instance, if a language interpreter is used, there is a chance that the results will be
inaccurate.

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The use of translators is not recommended, and in order to properly interpret test results or
even determine whether certain measures are appropriate, assessors must be familiar with the
language and culture from which an individual hails.

Testing companies now make a lot of money from adapting tests, and many tests, typically
measures created in English for use in the United States, are now being adapted for use in
other nations.

Such actions necessitate linguistic adjustments, but translators also need to be familiar with
local culture and environmental factors (ITC, 2005).

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One might be changing the construct that the test is intended to measure if they have altered
their sensory, perceptual, or motor abilities.

In both of these cases, it's possible to get scores for which there isn't a referenced normative
group, making it difficult to interpret the results correctly.

It can be said that when a test is given using a procedure that is different from what has been
developed during the standardisation process, conclusions drawn must acknowledge the
possibility of error in their creation, even though a comprehensive discussion of these
concepts is outside the scope of this report and is presented elsewhere.

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 References
• Dawn P. Flanagan, PhD, & Lenny F. Caltabiano St. John’s University “TEST SCORES:
A GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING AND USING TEST RESULTS”
• Ann Logsdon “Different Types of Scores on Standardized Tests”
https://www.verywellfamily.com/what-are-standard-scores-2162891
• A K Sindh “Tests, measurements and research methods in behavioural sciences”
• Overview of Psychological Testing - Psychological Testing in the Service of Disability D
etermination - NCBI Bookshelf (nih.gov)

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