DIFFERENTIATING TESTING

AND ASSESSMENT
Basic Concepts

Testing
-Everything from the administration of a test to
the interpretation of a test score.

Assessment Approached Used in Assessment

-acknowledges that tests are only one type of •Collaborative Psychological Assessment
tool used by professional assessors and that a -the assessor and assesse may work as
test’s value is intimately linked to the “partners” from initial contact through final
knowledge, skill, and experience of the assessor. feedback. •Therapeutic Psychological
Assessment –here therapeutic self-discovery
Psychological Assessment and new understandings are encouraged
-the gathering and integration of psychology- throughout the assessment process.
related data for the purpose of making a •Dynamic Assessment
psychological evaluation that is accomplished -employed in educational settings, although it
through the use of tools e.g. tests, interviews, may be employed in correctional, corporate,
case studies, behavioral observation, and neuropsychological, clinical, and most any other
specially designed apparatuses and setting as well.
measurement procedures. - follows a model of (1) evaluation, (2)
intervention of some sort, and (3) evaluation.
Psychological Testing
-the process of measuring psychology-related TOOLS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL
variables by means of devices or procedures ASSESSMENT test -is a measurement device or
designed to obtain a sample of behavior. technique used to quantify behavior or aid in
the understanding and prediction of behavior.
Psychological test - measure
characteristics of human beings that pertain to
behavior. TYPES OF TESTS
Individual tests
-Those that can be given to only one person at a
time.
Group test,
- more than one person at time by a single
examiner. preserve archival information, official and
informal accounts, and other data and items
relevant to an assessee.
Behavioral observation
-monitoring the actions of others or oneself by visual
or electronic means while recording quantitative
and/or qualitative information regarding the actions.
•Computers

CAPA(computer assisted psychological assessment)

-assistance computers provide to the test user,
not the test taker.
Tests may differ in their administration
procedures • CAT (computer adaptive testing)
•One-to-one basis, require an active and -is a reference to the computer’s ability to tailor
knowledgeable test administrator. the test to the test taker’s ability or test taking
•Administration to groups, may not even pattern.
require the test administrator to be present
while the test takers independently do whatever
it is the test requires. Historical and Cultural Perspective of Assessment
EARLY ANTECEDENTS
Tests differ in their scoring and  Chinese had a relatively sophisticated civil
interpretation procedures service testing program.
•score as a code or summary statement. Han Dynasty (206 B.C.E. to 220 C.E.)
•Scoring is the process of assigning such O Test Batteries (two or more tests used in
evaluative codes or statements to performance conjunction) were used.
on tests, tasks, interviews, or other behavior
samples.
Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 C.E.)
Psychometric soundness O National Multistage Testing Program
-how consistently and how accurately a involved local and regional testing centers
psychological test measures what it purports to equipped with special testing booths.
measure. O Only those who passed this third set of tests
were eligible for public office.

• psychometric utility CHARLES DARWIN AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

-Utility refers to the usefulness or practical value Darwin’s theory
that a test or assessment technique has for a - some possess characteristics that are more
particular purpose. adaptive or successful in a given environment than
Tools of Psychological Assessment are those of other members. (The Origin of Species,
1859).
•Interview
•Portfolio Sir Francis Galton
-are work products—whether retained on paper, - initiated a search for knowledge concerning human
canvas, film, video, audio, or some other individual differences.
medium.
•case history data Mental test (Cattell, 1890)James McKeen Cattell's -
-refers to records, transcripts, and other doctoral dissertation was based on Galton's work on
accounts in written, pictorial, or other form that individual differences in reaction time..
  By 1916, L. M. Terman of Stanford University
EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY AND had revised the Binet test for use in the
PSYCHOPHYSICAL MEASUREMENT United States.
 standardization sample was increased to
•J. E. Herbart include 1000 people.
- used mathematical models as the basis for
educational theories that strongly influenced 19th- Army Alpha and Army Beta
century educational practices. Army Alpha, required a reading ability.
Army Beta, measured the intelligence of illiterate
•E. H. Weber
adults.
-followed and attempted to demonstrate the
existence of a psychological threshold, the minimum Achievement Tests
stimulus necessary to activate a sensory system.  Provide multiple choice questions
•G. T. Fechner
- devised the law that the strength of a sensation Wechsler Intelligence Scales
grows as the logarithm of the stimulus intensity.  revision of the Stanford-Binet test
 David Wechsler published the first version of
-Wilhelm Wundt the Wechsler intelligence scales the
set up a laboratory at the University of Leipzig in Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale
1879, and was credited with founding the science of  Wechsler test was the performance IQ
psychology.
PERSONALITY TESTS
-E.B Titchener  These tests provided multiple choice and
Succeeded the works of Wundt and founded
true false questions that could be
structuralism.
Thus, psychological testing developed from at least administered to a large group.
two lines of inquiry: The first structured personality test, the
•one based on the work of Darwin, Galton, and Woodworth Personal Data Sheet.
Cattell on the measurement of individual The Rorschach test was first published by Herman
differences, and Rorschach of Switzerland in1921.
•the other (more theoretically relevant and probably
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) by Henry Murray
stronger) based on the work of the German
& Christina Morgan in 1935.
psychophysicists Herbart, Weber, Fechner, and
Purported to measure human needs and thus to
Wundt.
ascertain individual differences in motivation.
•Seguin Form Board Test - to educate and evaluate
projective personality tests, the Rorschach and TAT,
the mentally disabled.
grew rapidly by the late 1930s and early 1940s.
•Kraepelin- for evaluating emotionally impaired
people.

THE EMERGENCE OF NEW APPROACHES TO

THE EVOLUTION OF INTELLIGENCE AND PERSONALITY TESTING
STANDARDIZED ACHIEVEMENT TEST
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
Binet-Simon Scale (MMPI) published in 1943
 The first version of the test was published in -is currently the most widely used and referenced
1905. personality test.
 sample consisted of 50 children who had
been given the test under standard Factor Analysis
conditions - is a method of finding the minimum number of
Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale dimensions (characteristics, attributes), called
factors, to account for a large number of variables.
Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) •VALUE-possible number or category that a
(R.B. Cattell) score can have.
–One of the most well-constructed structured •SCORE-particular person’s value on a variable.
personality tests and an important example of a test
developed with the aid of factor analysis.
Legal and Ethical Considerations in Assessment

LAWS
are rules that individuals must obey for the good of Basic concepts: kinds of variables
the society as a whole.
•NUMERIC VARIABLE -
•ETHICS - variable whose values are numbers. Also called
is a body of principles of right, proper, or good quantitative variable.
conduct.
•Code of professional ethics Numeric variable is between two types:
-is recognized and accepted  equal-interval variables
by members of a profession, it defines the standard of -numbers stand for approximately equal
care expected of members of that profession. amounts of what is being measured.
•Standard of care  rank-order variables
- level at which the -value of zero on the variable indicates a
average, reasonable, and prudent professional would complete absence of the variable.
provide diagnostic or therapeutic services under the
same or similar conditions.  NOMINAL VARIABLE
Litigation -values are names or categories.
-the court-
mediated resolution of legal matters of a civil, NOMINAL SCALES are also called categorical
criminal or administrative nature. variables because their values are
-Litigation has sometimes been categories(qualitative variables)
referred to as “judge-made law”.
Legislation in the Philippine Context
•REPUBLIC ACT No. 10029
(Philippine Psychology Act of 2009)
•An act to regulate the practice of psychology and
psychometrics in the Philippines to protect the public
from inexperienced or untrained individuals offering
psychological services.

•REPUBLIC ACT 9258

(Guidance and Counseling act of 2004)
•Crafted and designed to professionalize the practice
of guidance and counseling in the Philippines.

BASIC STATISTICAL CONCEPTS IN PSYCH

ASSESSMENT

A normal distribution is called mesokurtic.

Platykurtic, central portion of the distribution is

much too flat.

Leptokurtic,there are too many scores in the center

and too many scores in the tails.

•VARIABLE-is a condition or characteristic that

can have different values. In short, it can vary.
 taken place.

Assumption #4: Tests and Other Measurement

Techniques Have Strengths and Weaknesses

Assumption #5: Various Sources of Error Are

Part of the Assessment Process

Classical Test Theory (CTT-also referred to as

true score theory)-the assumption is made that
each test taker has a true score on a test that
would be obtained but for the action of
measurement error.
Item response theory (IRT) is
an alternative. the model must have a way of
accounting for measurement error.

Assumption #6: Testing and Assessment

Can Be Conducted in a Fair and Unbiased
Manner

Assumption #7: Testing and Assessment

Benefit Society

RELIABILITY
Assumptions About Psychological Testing •the perfectly reliable measuring tool consistently
and Assessment measures in the same way.
Assumption #1: Psychological Traits and
States Exist Reliability Coefficient
•A proportion that indicates the ratio between the
true score variance on a test and the total variance.

Assumption #2: Psychological Traits and States

Can Be Quantified and Measured
Test developers must also ensure appropriate
ways to score the test and interpret the results.

Assumption #3: Test-Related Behavior Predicts

Non-Test-Related Behavior
Psychological tests may be used not to predict
behavior but to postdict it—that is, to aid in the
understanding of behavior that has already
 •Inter-item consistency
- degree of correlation among all the items on a
scale. - item
consistency is calculated from a single administration
of a single form of a test.
Kuder–Richardson formula
20, or KR-20 -Where test items are highly
homogeneous. - choice for determining the inter-
item consistency of dichotomous items, primarily
those items that can be scored right or wrong.
Sources of Error Variance
•test construction •administration •Coefficient alpha
•scoring and -is appropriate for use on tests containing non
interpretation dichotomous items.
•average
proportional distance (APD) - to evaluate
the internal consistency of a test that focuses on the
degree of difference that exists between item scores.

Reliability Estimates

•Test-Retest Reliability
-Correlating pairs of scores from the same people on
two different administrations of the same test
•Parallel Forms & Alternate
Forms Alternate forms are simply different
versions of a test that have been constructed so as
to be parallel.
•Split-half Reliability
-correlating two pairs of scores obtained from
equivalent halves of a single test administered once.
Spearman–Brown formula allows a test developer
to estimate internal consistency reliability from a
correlation of two halves of a test.

Other Methods of Estimating Internal

Consistency
VALIDITY

•a judgment or estimate of how well a test measures

what it purports to measure in a particular context.

• judgment about the appropriateness of inferences

drawn from test scores regarding individual standings
1. Content Validity on a variable called a construct.
This is a measure of validity based on an evaluation
of the subjects, topics, or content covered by the
items in the test.

2. Criterion-Related Validity
is a judgment of how adequately a test score can be
used to infer an individual’s most probable standing
on some measure of interest.
Characteristics of a Criterion
 Valid
 Uncontaminated

Criterion-Related Validity Divided into 2:

 Concurrent Validity 4. Face Validity
- which test scores may be used to estimate an •what a test appears to measure to the person being
individual’s present standing on a criterion tested than to what the test actually measures.
 Predictive Validity
- it is how accurately scores on the test predict some Validity, Bias, and Fairness
criterion measure.
•Test Bias
Validity Coefficient - a test that systematically prevents accurate,
•a correlation coefficient that provides a measure of impartial measurement.
the relationship between test scores and scores on the
criterion measure.
Incremental Validity •Rating Error
•the degree to which an additional predictor explains •is a judgment resulting from the intentional or
something about the criterion measure that is not unintentional misuse of a rating scale.
explained by predictors already in use. •leniency error
rating that arises from the tendency on the
3. Construct Validity part of the rater to be lenient in scoring.

 severity error.
criticize just about everything they review
may be guilty of severity errors.
•central tendency error
giving ratings at either the positive or
the negative extreme
 •Guttman scale
•Halo Effect •ordinal-level measures. from weaker to stronger
•give a particular ratee a higher rating than he or she expressions of the attitude, belief, or feeling being
objectively deserves because of the rater’s failure to measured.
discriminate among conceptually distinct and item pool
potentially independent aspects of a ratee’s behavior. -items will or will not be drawn for the final version
of the test.

Item Format
TEST DEVELOPMENT •2 Types of Item Format
•selected-response format
multiple-choice, matching, and true–false
•constructed-response format
completion item, the short answer, and the
essay.
3. Test Tryout
•Having created a pool of items from which the final
version of the test will be developed, the test
developer will try out the test.
4. Item Analysis

1. Test Conceptualization
-attempts to determine how best to measure a
targeted construct.
2. Test Construction ■an index of item’s difficulty
Scaling - Percentage of test takers who answered the item
•process of setting rules for assigning numbers in correctly.
measurement. - Note that the larger the item-difficulty index, the
easier the item.
Types of Scales:

•Rating Scale
-defined as a grouping of words, statements, or
symbols on which judgments of the strength of a
particular trait, attitude, or emotion are indicated by
the test taker.

•Likert scales ■an index of the item’s reliability

-an agree–disagree or approve–disapprove •the higher this index, the greater the test’s internal
continuum. consistency.
■an index of the item’s validity
provide an indication of the degree to which a test is
measuring what it purports to measure.
■an index of item discrimination
•Method of paired comparisons - measure of the difference between the proportion
– (two photographs, two objects, two statements), of high scorers answering an item correctly and the
which they are asked to compare. proportion of low scorers answering the item
•Comparative scaling correctly.
•comparison with every other stimulus on the scale.
•Categorical scaling
•Stimuli are placed into one of two or more
alternative categories that differ quantitatively with
respect to some continuum.
•item-characteristic curve
- graphic representation of item difficulty and
discrimination.

5. Test Revision
Formal item-analysis methods
-must be employed to evaluate the stability of items
between revisions of the same test.
A key step in the development of all tests—brand-
new or revised editions—is cross-validation.
The decrease in item validities that inevitably
occurs after cross-validation of findings is referred to
as validity shrinkage.
Co-validation, a test validation process conducted
on two or more tests using the same sample of test
takers.
When used in conjunction with the creation of
norms or the revision of existing norms, this process
is co-norming.