Psychological
testing
Dr MOLLIKA ROY
WHAT IS RESEARCH?
• The Ethics of Research
• Because research has the potential to violate the rights of participants, psychologists are
expected to adhere to a strict set of ethical guidelines aimed at protecting participants.
Those guidelines involve the following safeguards:
• Protection of participants from physical and mental harm.
• The right of participants to privacy regarding their behavior.
• The assurance that participation in research is completely voluntary.
• The necessity of informing participants about the nature of procedures before their
participation in the experiment.
RESEARCH Ethics
• The Ethics of Research
• Ethical clearance: All experiments must be reviewed by an independent panel before
being conducted, including the minority of studies that involve deception.
• Informed consent- One of psychologists’ key ethical principles
• Informed consent is a document signed by participants affirming that they have been
told the basic outlines of the study and are aware of what their participation will involve.
• A document affirming that they have been told the basic outlines of the study and are
aware of what their participation will involve, what risks the experiment may hold
• participation is purely voluntary and they may terminate it at any time.
• After participation, they must be given a debriefing in which they receive an explanation
of the study.
• Avoiding Experimental Bias (Error)
• Factors that distort the way the independent variable affects the dependent variable in an
experiment. This are confounding variables initiates unexplainable change in the
outcome (also called error).
• Experimenter expectations: An experimenter unintentionally transmits cues to
participants about the way they are expected to behave in a given experimental condition.
• Participant expectations: If participants form their own hypotheses, it may be the
participant’s expectations, rather than the experimental manipulation.
• Avoiding Experimental Bias (Error)
How to avoid Experimental Bias:
• 1. To solve this participants’ expectation psychologists typically use a procedure in which
all the participants receive a treatment, but those in the control group receive only a
placebo—a false treatment.
• Such as a pill, “drug,” or other substance that has no significant chemical properties or
active ingredient.
• 2. Double-blind procedure: To overcome the possibility that experimenter
expectations will affect the participant, the person who administers the treatment
shouldn’t know whether it is actually the true treatment or the placebo.
• By keeping both the participant and the experimenter “blind” to the nature of the
treatment that is being administered, researchers can more accurately assess the effects of
the drug.
Rights of test takers
▪ To inform test takers of these rights and responsibilities.
▪ Test takers should be treated with courtesy, respect, and impartiality, regardless of their age,
disability, ethnicity, gender, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, or other personal
characteristics
▪ provide test takers a brief description about the test purpose (e.g., diagnosis, placement,
selection, etc.) and the kind(s) of tests and formats that will be used.
▪ Test producer Provide understandable items as test materials.
▪Confidentiality
▪Right to know the test results
▪Should not be deceived (if not needed for the test purpose)
▪If needed, test maker should provide with accommodation.
Psychological Assessment
❖Psychological assessment is a series of tests conducted by a
psychologist, to gather information about how people think, feel,
behave and react.
❖The findings are used to develop a report of the person’s abilities and
behavior—known as a psychological report—which is then used as a
basis to make recommendations for the individual’s treatment.
Psychological Assessment
❖ Psychological assessments and reports are used in other fields as well—
❖like in the case of career planning for young adults or in the job application
process to determine how well an applicant will fit into the open role.
Psychological testing
❖Standard measures devised to assess behavior objectively.
❖Used by psychologists to help people make decisions about their
lives and understand more about themselves.
❖ A psychological test is used to measure an individual’s different abilities, such
as their aptitude, cognitive functions -memory and spatial recognition.
❖These tests are based on scientifically tested psychological theories.
Different categories of testing
❖The format of a test can vary from pencil and paper tasks to computer-based.
❖ Paper-pencil tests have been the standard method of administration in
psychological assessment .
❖These typically involve printed questionnaires, forms, or test booklets that
individuals complete using a pen or pencil.
❖Paper-pencil tests are easy to administer in various settings, including
clinical, educational, and research settings. They require minimal technology
and can be administered without the need for specialized equipment.
❖Computer-based tests leverage technology to administer assessments using
computers, tablets, or other electronic devices. They may involve interactive
interfaces, multimedia elements, and automated scoring algorithms.
Different categories of testing
Some includes not just paper pencil, those include activities (action based
test) such as puzzle-solving, drawing, logic problem solving, and memory
games.
❖Activity-based psychological tests, also known as experiential or hands-on
assessments, involve engaging individuals in structured activities or tasks to
evaluate various psychological constructs, such as cognitive abilities,
problem-solving skills, creativity
❖Some tests are different than these direct tests Such as projective techniques
❖—Projective tests is a type of assessment method used to uncover
unconscious thoughts, feelings, and personality dynamics by presenting
individuals with ambiguous stimuli and interpreting their responses.
Psychological testing
❖ Based on the result of the test, an inference will be drawn about the
individual’s inherent abilities and potential.
❖Psychological tests are classified into several types, including
intelligence tests, aptitude tests, vocational tests, aptitude tests, and
personality tests.
Types of psychological testing
❖ Intelligence tests are used to assess intelligence, or your ability to
perceive the surroundings, interact with them, and learn from them.
❖ Wachsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
❖Children's Wechsler Intelligence Scale (WISC)
❖Intelligence Scale of Stanford-Binet (SB)
Types of psychological testing
❖Personality tests are used to assess personality traits and styles.
❖Frequently used in research and to aid in clinical diagnosis.
❖Such as: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Big 5 test, etc are used to measure different
dimensions of personality.
❖ Attitude tests such as assess how a person feels about a specific event, location,
person, or object.
❖Implicit Association Test (IAT): The IAT measures implicit attitudes or unconscious
biases
❖ Achievement tests assess how well you understand a specific subject (i.e.,
mathematics achievement tests).
❖Such as: Stanford Achievement Test (SAT), California Achievement Test (CAT)
❖Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS), TerraNova, etc.
❖Aptitude tests assess your abilities in a particular area (i.e. clerical skills).
Types of psychological testing
❖Aptitude tests assess your abilities in a particular area (i.e. clerical skills).
❖An aptitude test is a standardized assessment designed to measure an
individual's potential to perform well in specific tasks, activities, or areas of
study.
❖These tests evaluate various cognitive abilities, such as reasoning,
problem-solving, critical thinking, and numerical, verbal, or spatial skills.
❖Aptitude tests are used to assess individuals' inherent abilities, talents, and
potential to succeed in specific areas, such as academic subjects, job roles, or
career fields
Types of psychological testing
❖Projective test:
In psychology, a projective test is an assessment designed to let a person
respond to ambiguous stimuli, presumably revealing hidden emotions and
internal conflicts projected by the person into the test.
❖ The best known and most frequently used projective test is the Rorschach inkblot
test. This test was originally developed in 1921 to diagnose schizophrenia.
❖ Subjects are shown a series of ten irregular but symmetrical inkblots, and asked to
explain what they see.
Types of psychological testing
❖Projective test: Rorschach inkblot test
❖The subject's responses are then analyzed in various ways, noting not only what
was said, but the time taken to respond, which aspect of the drawing was focused
on, and how individual responses compared to other responses for the same
drawing. It is important that the Rorschach test and other projective tests be
conducted by experienced professionals to ensure validity and consistency of
results
Types of psychological testing
❖Projective test: Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
The TAT is a widely used projective test for the assessment of children and
adults. It is designed to reveal an individual’s perception of interpersonal
relationships.
•Thirty-one picture cards serve as stimuli for stories and descriptions of
relationships or social situations.
•Cards include specific subsets for boys, girls, men, and women.
•The test is useful as part of a comprehensive study of personality and in
the interpretation of behaviour disorders, psychosomatic illnesses,
neuroses, and psychoses.
Characteristics of psychological testing
The following are the five main characteristics of a good psychological test:
1. Objectivity: These tests must be free of subjective judgments about the ability,
skill, knowledge, trait, or potentiality being measured and evaluated.
2. Reliability: refers to how consistent or reliable the results obtained are.
3. Validity: Refers to how well a test measures what it is supposed to measure.
4. Norms: The average performance of a representative sample on a given test is
referred to as a norm. It depicts the average standard of a specific sample in a
specific aspect. Future test takers can compare their results to norms to determine
the level of their sample.
Characteristics of psychological testing
5. Practicability: The test must be practicable in terms of the time required to
complete it, the length, the number of items or questions, the scoring.
❑The test should not be too long or difficult to answer or score.
Reliability
❖Reliability in psychology helps researchers conduct tests and studies in a consistent fashion.
❖Reliability—is the consistency of the score, findings or results over multiple
attempt or trials.
❖ If findings or results remain the same or similar over multiple attempts, a researcher
often considers it reliable.
❖ On the contrary, low reliability alerts researchers to the fact that they should change certain
aspects of their current test or study or conduct a new one to improve its value.
Types of Reliability
❖ Internal reliability refers to how well a test maintains consistency within its items.
❖ To measure internal reliability, researchers often use the split-half method.
❖ This process involves dividing a test in equal half (say part A & B) after administering it to a
group of participant and comparing the results of each half.
❖ If a researcher finds that each portion (A& B) of the test yields similar results, the test then has
internal reliability.
A 1st item 3rd 5th 7th 9th 11th Total A
B 2nd item 4th 6th 8th 10th 12th Total B
Types of Reliability
❖ External reliability is the ability of a test to yield the same results both over
time and from each individual who takes it.
❖Test-retest reliability- measures how well a test remains stable after repeated
uses. If a test remains stable, it maintains its external reliability.
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Types of Validity
▪ Validity in the context of psychological assessment refers to the degree
to which a test or measurement tool accurately measures what it claims
to measure.
▪It is the extent to which the scores obtained from a test represent the
construct, trait, or behavior that the test is intended to assess.
▪Validity is a crucial aspect of assessment because it determines the
meaningfulness and usefulness of test scores for making inferences or
decisions about individuals.
What is norms?
▪Normsof a test refer to the standard reference points used to interpret test scores and
compare individuals' performance to a relevant group or population.
▪ Test norms consist of data that make it possible to determine the relative standing of
an individual who has taken a test.
▪Norms provide information about the typical or expected performance of individuals
within a specific reference group, allowing for the meaningful interpretation of test
scores in relation to that group.
▪They allow for the comparison of individuals' performance to a relevant group or
population and help ensure the validity and fairness of test interpretation.
▪Norms are essential for making informed decisions in various fields, including
education, psychology, healthcare, and personnel selection.
Function/Application of Psychological
testing
Psychological testing is primarily used for
❖psychological diagnosis,
❖ job screening,
❖academic placements,
❖identifying specific behavior,
❖research purposes, etc.
