Group+1+-+Characteristics+of+Psychological+Tests



= Cheyenne Rust, Morgan Erickson, & Tuyen Huynh, Katie Hogan, Bailey Odegaard, Brandi Hunsicker﻿ =

Psychological testing is an important part of our society because of the short time period it takes to receive information about a person. To assume the highest amount of reliability, when tests are being looked over, psychologists attempt to prevent as many variables as possible from influencing the persons score. If you plan to take a psychological test, you should check into the test's reliability. Test reliability refers to the consistency that the test has, or in other words, the ability of the test to produce the same result under different circumstances. A test can be reliable, but that doesn’t mean that it’s valid. Validity is the ability of a test to measure what it is intended to measure. For example, if you’re taking a history test, your knowledge of Spanish is not what is being measured.

An important aspect of psychological tests is standardization. This refers to two things; first, the test should be scored the same every time and must be administered. Secondly, a norm, or average score, must be established by a group of people. By norm, we mean the standard of comparison for test results developed by giving the test to large, well defined groups of people. But, you must remember that a norm is not necessarily a standard. Lastly, there are three questions you should consider after you take a test. Do you think that if you took the same test again, you would receive a similar score? Does your performance on this test reflect your usual performance in the subject? If you were to compare your score with those of your classmates, would it reflect your general standing within that group?


 * ====== Reliability is the ability of a test to give the same results under similar conditions. ======
 * ====== In other words, the answers will be the same for each test taken because the environment and conditions for the test takers are always the same ======
 * ====== For example, we are given a MAP test every year in the same subjects, environment, and time of year. Therefore the test is reliable. ======


 * Validity is the ability of a test to measure what is is intended to measure
 * In other words, the test will contain question that are used to measure your ability in that specific subject
 * For example, if you are being tested on how well you know countries, there will not be a section on the test about nutrition. Therefore the test is valid.


 * Percentile system is the ranking of test scores that indicates the ratio of scores lower and higher than a given score
 * In other words, this is when one can rank others with a score and show the relationship between the scores.
 * For example, college level tests are rated on a scale of 1-5; the top 20% of student scores recieve a 5, the next 20% a 4, and so on, therefore that is the percentile system.


 * Norms are the standard of comparison for test results developed by giving the test to large, well-defined groups of people
 * In other words, the average test scores for many people around the same age.
 * For example, the average ACT score is 21. Therefore that is the norm.

Psychological Tests This website talks about the different types of psychological tests and that it depends on the test taker to see how accurate the test really is. This website also talks about the justifications of psychologial tests along with the validity and reliability. It also includes that the test results are used for things other then what it was assigned for.

Article on Psychological Tests Psychological assessment is a sub-field of Clinical Psychology. Psychologists use tests to measure a human abilities, traits, characteristics, personality characteristics, intelligence, and cognitive characteristics. There are hundreds of tests in existence today. The most well know tests are the IQ test, the Rorschach Ink Blot, and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). This article also talks about the field of Neuropsychology. They use specialized tests to measure memory, learning, intelligence, etc.


 * There are three basic ways of determining a test’s reliability: test-retest, scorer or interscore, and split-half reliability.
 * Test-retest states that if a person takes a similar test to one that he or she has recently taken, will he or she receive the same score, or will the scores differ?
 * Scorer reliability is if a teacher was to grade essays at different times, the score given on the essay may be differ.
 * Interscorer reliability is when the score you are given is more dependent on the person grading then on you.
 * Split-half reliability states that if the test was split in two, and scored separately, then both halves should be approximately the same.
 * Psychological tests need to be standarized. The test should be given in a similar manner each time. The scoring should be very specific and planned out before the test is given.
 * One of the important methods for measuring validility is to to find out how well a test predicts performance. If a test measures what it was intended to measure then it could predict your performance.
 * When you get your test results, you should translate it into something useful and establish the norms. If a test is reliable and valid, it means that you can be expected to understand the score.
 * Reliability refers to a test’s consistency. There are three ways to determine a test reliability.
 * First is if the person retakes the test of takes a similar test will he/she get the same approximate result.
 * Second is if the test is graded by a different person at different time will the results still be the same.
 * Third is randomly dividing the test in half, and score each half separately. The two results should be about the same.
 * Validity is the ability of a test to measure what the test is intended to measure.
 * One of the methods for measuring the validity of a test is to find out how well the test predicts performance this is known as predictive validity.
 * Standardization refers to two things.
 * First the tests must be scored the same way every time and be administered. The Administrators are trained and must follow the same procedures and ask the questions the same way and the questions must be the same.
 * Secondly standardization refers to establishing the norm (average score) made by a group of people.

1. What is the validity of a test? A. ability of a test to give the same results under similar conditions

B. the ability of a test to measure what its intended to measure

C. ranking of test scores indicating the ratio of scores lower and

D. standard of comparison for test results developed by giving the test to large, higher than a given score well-defined groups of people.

2. What are the three basic ways of determining a tests reliablility?

a. test-retest reliability

b. interscorer/scorer reliability

c. split-half reliability

d. predictive reliability

3. What is the ranking of test scores that indicates the ratio of scores lower and higher than a givin score?

a. objective test

b. reliability

c. cultural bias

d. percentile system

4. What is predictive validity?

a. When two scores are approximately the same

b. a standard of comparison for test results

c. how well a test predicts performance

d. a tests consistency

5. __ is when the score you receive depends more on the grader than on you.

a. Scorer reliability

b. Interscorer reliability

c. Standardized

d. split-half reliability



//Ink blot//

//Polygraph//

//Standardized test.//