Psychological Testing Jemellene Baluyot Department of Behavioral Sciences University of the Philippines Manila

Psychological Testing

Jemellene BaluyotDepartment of Behavioral SciencesUniversity of the Philippines Manila


The process of administering, scoring and interpreting psychological tests.

All psychological tests require the performance of some behaviour – an observable and measurable action (e.g., answering a question, putting a puzzle together).


The behaviour is used to measure some personal attribute, trait, or characteristic, such as intelligence, that is thought to be important in describing or understanding behaviour.

The behaviour is also sometimes use to make a prediction about some outcome, like success on the job.

Psychological Testing Characterized by the use of samples of

behaviour in order to assess psychological constructs, such as cognitive and emotional functioning, about a given individual

Samples of behaviour observations over time of an individual

performing tasks that have usually been prescribed beforehand, which often means scores on a test.

These responses are often compiled into statistical tables that allow the evaluator to compare the behaviour of the individual being tested to the responses of a norm group.

Psychological Assessment similar to psychological testing but

usually involves a more comprehensive assessment of the individual

a process that involves the integration of information from multiple sources, such as tests of normal and abnormal personality, tests of ability or intelligence, tests of interests or attitudes, as well as information from personal interviews

Psychological Assessment Information about personal, occupational, or medical

history, such as from records or from interviews with parents, spouses, teachers, or previous therapists or physicians are also collected

A psychological test is one of the sources of data used within the process of assessment; usually more than one test is used.

Many psychologists do some level of assessment when providing services to clients or patients, and may use for example, simple checklists to assess some traits or symptoms, but psychological assessment is a more complex, detailed, in-depth process.

Psychological Assessment Typical types of focus for psychological

assessment are to provide a diagnosis for: treatment settings to assess a particular area of functioning or

disability often for school settings to help select type of treatment or to assess

treatment outcomes; to help courts decide issues such as child custody or competency to stand trial

to help assess job applicants or employees and provide career development counseling or training


A useful psychological measure must be both: valid (i.e., there is evidence to support

the specified interpretation of the test results)

reliable (i.e., internally consistent or give consistent results over time, across raters, etc.)

Uses and Varieties of Psychological Tests Traditionally, the function of psychological

tests has been to measure differences between individuals or between the reactions of the same individual under different circumstances.

One of the earliest problems that stimulated the development of psychological tests was the identification of mentally retarded persons. To this day, the detection of intellectual deficiencies remains an important application of certain types of psychological tests.

Uses and Varieties of Psychological Tests A strong impetus to the early development

of tests was provided by assessment needs arising in education. E.g., Binet tests for intelligence testing At present, schools are among the largest test

users. The classification of children with reference to

their ability to profit from different types of school instruction, the identification of outstandingly slow or fast learners, the educational and occupational counseling of high school and college students, and the selection of applicants for professional schools are among the many uses of educational tests.

Uses and Varieties of Psychological Tests The selection and classification of industrial

personnel represent another major application of psychological testing. E.g., in hiring, job assignment, transfer,

promotion, or termination The effective employment of tests in many of

there situations, especially in connection with high-level jobs, usually requires that the tests be used as an adjunct to skillful interviewing, so that test scores may be properly interpreted in the light of other background information about the individual.

Uses and Varieties of Psychological Tests

Testing constitutes an important part of the total personnel program. E.g., in the selection and classification of military

personnel From simple beginnings in World War II, the

scope and variety of psychological tests employed in military situations underwent a phenomenal increase during World War II. Subsequently, research on test development has been continuing on a large scale in all branches of armed services.

Uses and Varieties of Psychological Tests

The use of tests in individual counseling has gradually broadened from a narrowly defined guidance regarding educational and vocational plans to an involvement with all aspects of the person’s life. E.g., use of tests to enhance self-understanding

and personal development Within this framework test scores are part of the

information given to the individual as aids to his or her own decision making processes.

Uses and Varieties of Psychological Tests Psychological tests also serve important functions in

basic research. Nearly all problems in differential psychology, require

testing procedures as a means of gathering data. E.g., in studies in the nature and extent of individual

differences, organization of psychological traits, measurement of group differences, identification of biological and cultural factors associated with behavioral differences

Life-span developmental changes within the individual, relative effectiveness of different educational procedures, outcomes of psychotherapy, impact of community programs, influence of environmental variables on human performance

Uses and Varieties of Psychological Tests The many kinds of tests designed for these diverse

purposes differ also in other major characteristics. Way of administration - e.g., individual testing of

each person by a trained examiner, simultaneous testing of large groups, or with the use of computers.

Aspects of behavior they cover – e.g., assessment of cognitive traits or abilities, broad aptitudes such as readiness to profit from college work, to highly specific sensorimotor skills required to perform a simple manual operation, measures of affective variables or personality, such as emotional or motivational traits, interpersonal behavior, interests, attitudes, values.

What is the Psychological Test?

Behavior Sample Standardization Objective Measurement Reliability Validity

Features of Psychological Tests: Behavioral Sample

A psychological tests is essentially an objective and standardized measure of a sample of behavior.

They are like tests in any other science, in the sense that observations are made on a small but carefully chosen sample of an individual’s behavior.


Whether or not the test adequately covers the behavior under consideration depends in the number and the nature of items in the sample. E.g., an arithmetic test consisting of only five

problems, or one including only multiplication items, would be a poor measure of the individual’s computational skill.

A vocabulary test composed entirely of football terms would hardly provide a dependable estimate of a child’s total range of vocabulary.

Features of Psychological Tests: Behavioral Sample The diagnostic or predictive value of a

psychological test depends on the degree to which it serves as an indicator of a relatively broad and significant area of behavior.

Measurement if the behavior sample directly covered by the test is rarely, if ever, the goal of psychological testing. E.g., If a test can demonstrate that there is a

close correspondence between the person’s knowledge or score on a list of problems and his total mastery, performance or skill on the subject, then the tests are serving its purpose.


Note though that test items need not resemble closely the behavior the test is to predict. It is necessary only that an empirical correspondence be demonstrated between the two.

The degree of similarity between the test sample and the predicted behavior may vary widely.


At one extreme, the test may coincide completely with a part of the behavior to be predicted. E.g., foreign-vocabulary test in which

students are examined on 20 of the 50 new words they have studied, road test taken to get a driver’s license


A lesser degree of similarity is illustrated by many vocational aptitude tests administered prior to job training, in which there is only a moderate resemblance between the task performed on the job and those incorporated in the test.


At the other extreme on finds projective tests such as the Rorschach inkblot test, in which an attempt is made to predict from the respondent’s associations to inkblots how he or she will react to other people, to the emotionally toned stimuli, and to other complex, everyday-life situations.


Despite their superficial differences, all these tests consist of sample of the individual’s behavior. And each must provide its worth by an empirically demonstrated correspondence between the examinee’s performance on the test and in other situations.


Prediction – connotes a temporal estimate – e.g., an individual’s future performance on a job being forecast from their present condition, such as mental retardation or emotional disorder, implies a prediction of what the individual may do in situations other than the present test

Tests are behavioral samples from which predictions regarding other behavior can be made.


Capacity E.g., devising a test to predict how well an

individual can learn French before he or she has even begun the study of French

Such a test would involve a sample of the types of behavior required to learn a new language, but would itself presuppose no knowledge of French I.e., this test measures the individual’s

“capacity” or “potentiality” of learning French.

Features of Psychological Tests: Standardization

A psychological test is a standardized measure.

Standardization implies uniformity of procedure in administering and scoring the test.

In a test situation, the single independent variable is often the individual being tested like in other scientific observations.


In order to secure uniformity of testing conditions, the test constructor provides detailed directions for administering each newly developed test. Such standardization extends to the exact materials employed, time limits, oral instructions, preliminary demonstrations, ways of handling queries of test takers, and every other detail of the testing situation.


In giving instructions or presenting problems orally, consideration must be given to the rate of speaking, tone of voice, inflection, pauses, and facial expression. In the test involving the detection of

absurdities, the correct answer may be given away by smiling or pausing when the crucial word is read.

Features of Psychological Tests: Standardization Another important step in the

standardization of a test is the establishment of norms.

Psychological tests have no predetermined standards of passing or failing; performance on each test is evaluated on the basis of empirical data.

For most purposes, an individual’s test score is interpreted by comparing it with the scores obtained by others on the same test.


Norm – the normal or average performance It may be expressed as a number of correct

items, time required to complete a task, number of errors, or some other measure appropriate to the content of the test.

Such a raw score is meaningless until interpreted in terms of a suitable interpretative data.


In the process of standardizing a test, it is administered to a large, representative sample of the type of persons for whom it is designed.

This group, known as the standardization sample, serves to establish the norms.


Such norms indicate not only the average performance but also the relative frequency of varying degrees of deviation above and below the average.

It is thus possible to evaluate different degrees of superiority and inferiority. All permit the designation of the individual’s position with reference to the normative or standardization sample.


Norms are established for personality tests in essentially the same way as for aptitude tests. The norm on a personality test is not necessarily the most desirable or “ideal” performance, any more than a perfect or errorless score is the norm on an aptitude test.

The norm corresponds to the performance of typical or average persons.


In an emotional adjustment inventory, the norm does not ordinarily correspond to a complete absence of unfavorable or maladaptive responses.

A few such responses occur in the majority of “normal” individuals in the standardization sample, and this number of maladaptive responses would thus represent the norm.

Features of Psychological Tests: Objective Measurement Aside from being standardized, a test is

also characterized as objective. E.g., in terms of administration, scoring,

and interpretation of scores it is objective insofar as they are independent of the subjective judgment of the particular examiner.

Perfect standardization and objectivity has not been attained in practice. But at least such objectivity is the goal of test construction and has been achieved to a reasonably high degree in most tests.

Features of Psychological Tests: Reliability

The objective evaluation of psychological tests involves primarily the determination of the reliability and the validity of the test in specific situations.

Reliability = consistency Test reliability is the consistency of scores

obtained by the same persons when retested with the identical test or with an equivalent test form of the test.

Features of Psychological Tests: Reliability If a child receives an IQ of 110 on Monday and an IQ

of 80 when retested on Friday, it is obvious that little or no confidence can be put to either score.

If one test of 50 words an examinee identifies 40 correctly, whereas in another, supposedly equivalent sets she gets a score of only 20 right, then neither score can be taken as a dependable index of her verbal comprehension.

From the given data we can conclude only that both scores cannot be right and we need further information to know if either tests is reliable.

Features of Psychological Tests: Reliability

Before a psychological test is released for general use, a thorough objective check of its reliability should be carried out.

Reliability may be checked by comparing the scores obtained by the same test takers at different times, with different sets if items, with different examiners or scorers, or under any other relevant testing condition.

Features of Psychological Tests: Reliability It is essential to specify the type of

reliability and the method employed to determine it, because the same test may vary in these different aspects.

The number and nature of persons on whom reliability was checked should also be reported.

With such information, test users can predict whether the test will be about equally reliable for the group with which they expect to use it.

Features of Psychological Tests: Validity

Validity – the degree to which the test actually measures what it is suppose to measure

Validity provides a direct check on how well the test fulfills its function.

The determination of validity usually requires independent, external criteria of whatever the test is designed to measure.

Features of Psychological Tests: Validity For example if a medical aptitude test is to

be used in selecting promising applicants for medical school, ultimate success in medical school would be a criterion.

In the process of validating such a test, it would be administered to a large group of students at the time of their admission to medical school. Some measure off performance in medical school would eventually be obtained for each student for the basis of grades, ratings by instructors, success or failure in completing training, etc.


Such a composite measure constitutes the criterion with which each student’s initial test score is to be correlated.

A high correlation, or validity coefficient, would signify that those individuals who scored high on the test had been relatively successful in medical school, whereas those scoring low had done poorly.


A low correlation would indicate little correspondence between test score and criterion measure and hence poor validity of the test.

The validity coefficient enables us to determine how closely the criterion performance could have been predicted from the test scores.


In the same manner, tests designed for other purposes can be validated against appropriate criteria.

For example, a vocational aptitude test can be validated against on-the-job success of a trial group of new employees.

A pilot aptitude battery can be validated against achievement in flight training.


Tests designed for broader and more varied uses are validated against a number of independently obtained behavioral indices; and there validity can be established only by the gradual accumulation of data from many different kinds of investigations.


Before a test is ready for use, its validity must first be established on a representative sample of persons.

The scores of these persons are not themselves employed for operational purposes buy serve only in the process of testing the test.

If the test proves valid by this method, it can then be used on other samples in the absence of criterion measures.


It might still be argued that we would need only to wait for the criterion measure to mature, to become available, on any group in order to obtain the information that the test is trying to predict. But such procedure would be so wasteful of time and energy as to be prohibitive in most instances.


Thus, we could determine which applicants will succeed on the job or which students will satisfactorily complete college by admitting all who apply (or a random sample of them) and waiting for subsequent developments.

It is the very wastefullness of this procedure, and its delirious emotional impact on individuals, that tests are designed to minimize.


By means of tests, the person’s present level of prerequisite knowledge, skills, and other relevant characteristics can be assessed with a determinable margin of error.

The more valid and reliable the test, the smaller will be the margin of error.


Validity tells us more than the degree to which the test is fulfilling its function.

Validity actually tells us what the test is measuring.

It would be thus more accurate to define validity as the extent to which we know what the test measures.


The interpretation of test scores would undoubtly be clearer and less ambiguous if tests are regularly named in terms of the empirically established relationships through which they have been validated.

A tendency in this direction can be recognized in such test labels as “scholastic assessment test” and “personnel classification test” in place of the vague title “intelligence test.”

Features of Psychological Tests: Reliability and Validity

Reliability involves the consistency of the measuring tool: the precision with which the test measures and the extent to which error is present in measurements.

In theory, the perfectly reliable measuring tool consistently measures in the same way.

Testing and Assessment Testing refers to everything from the

administration of a test to the interpretation of a test score.

During the WWI, the process of testing aptly described the group screening of thousands of military recruits.

It was then that testing gained a powerful foothold in the vocabulary of professionals and laypeople.

Testing and Assessment During the WWII, the US Office of Strategic

Services (OS) used a variety of procedures and measurement tools – psychological tests among them – in selecting military personnel for highly specialized positions involving espionage, intelligence gathering, etc.

The assessment data generated there integrated and evaluated by highly trained assessment personnel. The OSS model – using a variety of evaluation tools later inspired what is now referred to as the assessment approach to personnel evaluation.

Testing and Assessment

Psychological Assessment – gathering and integration of psychology-related data for the purpose of making a psychological evaluation that is accomplished thru the use of tools such as tests, interviews, case studies, behavioral observation, and specially designed apparatuses and measurement procedures.

Testing and Assessment

Psychological testing is the process of measuring psychology-related variables by means of devices or procedures designed to obtain a sample of behavior.

Tools of Psychological Assessment

Tests Interviews Portfolio Case History Data Behavioral Observation Role-Play Tests Computers as Tools Other Tools

Tools of Psychological Assessment: Interviews Interview – a method of gathering information through

direct communication involving reciprocal exchange The interviewer is taking note of both verbal and non-

verbal behavior during face-to-face interviews. Non-verbal behavior may include the interviewee’s

body language, movements and facial expressions in response to the interviewer, the extent of eye contact, and apparent willingness to cooperate.

The interviewer may also take note of the way that the interviewee is dressed. For instance, neat versus sloppy and appropriate versus inappropriate may be noted.

Tools of Psychological Assessment: Interviews Because of a potential wealth of nonverbal

information to be gained, interviews are ideally conducted in other formats, such as by telephone.

Here, the interviewer may still be able to gain information beyond the responses to questions being sensitive to variables such as changes in the interviewee’s voice pitch or the extent to which particular questions precipitate long pauses or signs of emotion in response.

Tools of Psychological Assessment: Interviews

Interviews differ with regards to many variables, such as their purpose, length and nature.

It can be used in various specialty areas to help may diagnostic, treatment, selection, or other decisions.


Examples: School setting – School psychologists may use interviews to help make decisions about the appropriateness of various educational interventions or class placements.

A court-appointed psychologist may use an interview to help guide the court in determining whether a defendant was insane at the time of the commission of a crime.


A specialist in head injury may use an interview to help shed light on questions related to the extent of damage to the brain that was caused by the injury.

A psychologist studying consumer behavior may use an interview to learn about the market for various products and services as well as how to best advertise and promote them.

Tools of Psychological Assessment: Interviews Interviews also help human resource personnels make

more informed recommendations about the hiring, firing, and advancement of personnel. In some instances, especially the field of human resources, a specialized interview called a panel interview may be employed.

An advantage of this approach is that any biases of a lone interviewer will be minimized by the use of two or more interviewers.

A disadvantage relates to its utility – the cost of multiple interviewers may not be justified, especially when the return of investment is questionable.


The popularity and usefulness of interviews as a method of gathering information extends far beyond psychology.

An interview is a recriprocal affair in that the interviewee reacts to an interviewer and vice versa.


The quality, if not the quantity, of usefulness of information produced by an interview depends also on the skills of the interviewer.

Interviewers differ in many ways: their pacing of interviews, their rapport with interviewees, and their ability to convey genuineness, empathy, and humor.

Tools of Psychological Assessment Portfolio

A compilation of one’s works Used in the industrial as well as educational setting

Case History Data Records, transcripts, and other accounts in written,

pictorial, or other form that preserve archival information, official or informal accounts and other data relevant to the assessee.

May include files maintained by schools, hospitals, employers, crime justice agencies and other organizations. Can also include letters and written correspondences, clippings, photos, videos, etc.


Behavioral Observations Monitoring the actions of others or

oneself by visual or electronic means while recording information regarding actions.

Often used as a diagnostic aid in various settings such as inpatient facilities, behavioral research laboratories, and classrooms

May also be used for selection purposes


Role Play Tests Role Play – acting an improvised or

partially improvised part in a simulated situation

Role Play Test – a tool of assessment wherein assessees are directed to act as if there were in a particular situation.

They may be evaluated with regard to their expressed thoughts, behaviors, abilities, and other variables.

Why Control the Use of Psychological Tests? “ May I have a Stanford-Binet blank? My nephew has

to take it next week for admission to School X and I’d like to give him some practice so he can pass.”

“To improve the reading program in our school, we need a culture-free IQ test that measures each child’s innate potential.”

“Last night I answered the questions in an intelligence test published in a magazine and I got an IQ of 80 – I think psychological tests are silly.”

“My roommate is studying psych. She gave me a personality test and I came out neurotic. I’ve been too upset to go to class ever since.”

“Last year you gave a new personality test to our employees for research purposes. We would like to have their scores for their personnel folders.”

Why Control the Use of Psychological Tests?

These remarks are not imaginary. Each is based on a real incident, and the list could easily extended by any psychologist.

Such remarks illustrate potential misuses or misinterpretations of psychological tests in such ways as to render the test worthless or to hurt the individual.

Like any scientific instrument or precision tool, psychological tests must be properly used to be effective.

Why Control the Use of Psychological Tests?

In the hands of either the unscrupulous or the well-meaning but uninformed user, such tests can cause serious damage.

There are two principal reasons for controlling the use of psychological tests: To ensure that the test is given by a qualified

examiner and that the scores are properly used To prevent general familiarity with the test

content, which would invalidate the test

Why Control the Use of Psych Tests: Qualified Examiner The need for a qualified examiner is evident

in each of the three main aspects of the testing situation: selection of the test, administration and scoring, and interpretation of scores.

In selecting tests, an evaluation of its technical merits for instance in terms of validity, reliability, difficulty level, and norms are essential to determine the appropriateness of any test for their particular purpose and its sustainability for the type of persons it is to be used.

Why Control the Use of Psych Tests: Qualified Examiner An adequate realization of the need to

follow instructions precisely, as well as a thorough familiarity with the standard instructions, is required if the test scores obtained by different examiners are to be comparable or if any one individual’s score is to be evaluated in terms of the published norms.

Careful control of testing conditions is also essential.

Incorrect or inaccurate scoring may render the test score worthless.

Why Control the Use of Psych Tests: Qualified Examiner The proper interpretation of test scores

requires a thorough understanding of the test, the test taker, and the testing conditions.

What is being measured can only be objectively determined by reference to the specific procedures through which the particular test was validated.

Other information – pertaining to reliability, nature of the group on which norms are established, and the like – is likewise relevant.

Why Control the Use of Psych Tests: Qualified Examiner

Some background regarding the individual being tested are essential in interpreting any test score. The same test score may be obtained by different persons for different reasons. The conclusions to be drawn from such scores would therefore be quite dissimilar.

Why Control the Use of Psych Tests: Qualified Examiner

Finally, some consideration may also be given to special factors that may have influenced a particular score, such as unusual testing conditions, the temporary emotional or physical state of the test taker, and the extent of the test taker’s previous experience with tests.

Why Control the Use of Psych Tests: Role of the Test User

A significant development in psychological testing in the 1980s and 1990s was the increasing recognition of the key role of the test user. In this context, the test user is anyone who uses test scores as one source of information in reaching practical decisions.

The test user may or may not be the examiner who administers and scores the test.


Examples of test users are teachers, counselors, administrators in school systems, and personnel workers in the industry or government.

Probably the most frequent case of test misuse is insufficient or faulty knowledge about testing.


Special committees of national professional organizations, working jointly with test publishers, have been giving increasing attention to the prevention of test misuse. E.g., project conducted by the Test User

Qualifications Working Group (TUQWoG), with a goal to develop an empirical, data-based set of essential qualifications of users of different types of tests that test publishers can incorporate into their test purchaser qualification forms.


Through five years of intensive, nationwide research, the TUQWoG project developed an impressive database.

A second working group (Test User Training Working Group or TUTWoG) was subsequently formed whose purpose was to use the available TUQWoG database to develop guidelines and training materials for test users.

Security of Test Content and Communication of Test Information

- Obviously, if one were to memorize the correct responses on a testof color blindnessm such a test would no longer be a measure of colorvision for that person.- Test content clearly has to be restricted in order to forestalldeliberate efforts to fake scores.- In other cases, however, the effect of familiarity may be lessobvious, or the test may be invalidated in good faith by misinformedpersons.

Security of Test Content and Communication of Test Information A school teacher, for example, may give a class special

practice inproblems closely resembling those on an intelligence test, 'so thatthe children will be well-prepared to take the test.' Such an attitudeis simply a carry-over from the usual procedure of preparing for aschool examination.

However, when applied to an intelligence test, it is likely thatsuch specific training or coaching will raise the scores on the testwithout appreciably affecting the broader area of behavior the testtries to sample.

Under such conditions, the validity of the test as a predictive oras a diagnostic instrument is reduced.


Ensuring the security of specific test content need not - and should not - interfere with the effective communication of testing information to test takers, concerned professionals, and the generalpublic.


Such communication serves several purposes: First, it tends to dispel any mystery that may

have becomeassociated with testing and thereby helps to correct prevalentmisconceptions about what tests are designed to do and what their scores mean. (A number of clearly written publications distributed by some of the major test publishers are designed for this purpose.)


A second type of communication is concerned with the technical procedures whereby particular tests are constructed and evaluated; they present the relevant data about reliability, validity, and other psychometric properties of test. (This type of information is technically included in the technical manual prepared for each testand is available to any interested person.


A third purpose of test communication is to familiarize test takers with testing procedures, dispel anxiety, and ensure that each will perform to the best of his or her ability.

Several explanatory booklets have been prepared for this purpose, some of a general nature and others for specific tests such as the College Boards Scholastic Assessment Test.


A fourth and highly significant type of communication is the feedback provided to test takers regarding their own performance on any test they have taken.

Documents

Psychological Testing Jemellene Baluyot Department of Behavioral Sciences University of the Philippines Manila