Assignment 2 - Psych Assessment

Espanol, Chunelle Maria Victoria C.
September 24,2021
BS Psych 3-3 Psych Assessment
Assignment # 2
A (Psychological) Assessment test is a tool or instrument or equipment that

exists to gain a better understanding of a person & his behavior and identify potential
problems with cognition, emotional reactivity & make recommendations for treatment &
remediation. It is there to measure an individual’s functioning at a point in time & allow
the tester aid to decide remedy, treatment or diagnosis by giving objective evidence
based on psychological functioning through the test’s assessment of variety of mental
abilities & attributes.
Now to my knowledge & digging, there are 5 criterias to make a good test. These
are Validity, Reliability, Objectivity, Norms & Practicability. The former 2 are
consistently found in all the sources used in this paper while the latter 3 don’t appear
much in the same standing as the noted 2.
Validity is focused on what an instrument or test measures and how well it does
the task. In other words, validity is whether the test fulfills the objective of its
development or not. Based on what I read, there are types of validity. These are
Descriptive Validity & Predictive Validity. Descriptive Validity meant that the test is
highly comparable to another existing proven test similar to the former. On the other
hand, Predictive Validity is the validity of a tool/test used to accurately predict the future
results & patterns (i.e., SATs & NATs). There are also 3 traditional categories of validity.
These are Content-Related Validity, Criterion-Related Validity & Construct Validity.
Content-Related Validity is the degree to which the evidence indicated the test
adequately represent the intended while Criterion-Related Validity is the extent to which
an instrument was systematically related the outcome criteria. The latter is actually the
test that could be a good predictor of a certain criteria. Finally Construct validity is the
extent to which an instrument/ test may measure a theoretical construct or trait. There
are also 5 different methods for acquiring validation evidence. First is Based on Test
Content evidence and it- to my understanding- meant analyzing the evidence of the
relationship between the instruments content & the construct it is intended to measure.
Second is Based on Response Processes. This includes the theoretical & empirical
investigations of an individual ‘s cognitive/ affective/ behavioral response processes.
The evidence concerns whether the examinee is responding in a manner consistent
with intent of assessment. Third is Based on Internal Structure. This meant analyzing
internal structure of the test to determine whether it conforms to the intended
construction of the test. Fourth is Based on Relation on Other Variables. This meant
examining the relationship between assessment scores & other pertinent variables.
There are 2 types of these: Convergence Evidence & Descriptive Evidence. The former
meant the relationship is positively related while the latter meant the test is not
correlated with other variables from which it should differ. Finally, there’s For Validity &
Consequence of Testing. The evidence from this is about the intended & unintended
consequence of the use of instrument. There are also things called Multitrait-
Multimethod Matrix & Regression. The matrix is meant to explore validation methods to
Espanol, Chunelle Maria Victoria C. September 24,2021
involves correlating tests with traits that are both theoretical related to the test & traits
unrelated to the construct being measured. On the other hand, Regression is the
commonly used method for gathering validation evidence meant to determine the
usefulness of a variable/ a set of them in predicting another important/ meaningful
variable. Now to test Validity, it is said that one must settle on 1 or more criterion
measures of the attribute that the test is designated for.
Next is Reliability. Reliability can be summed up in 4 words: “’Consistency’ of a
measuring tool”. It is the extent to which the results procured from a form of test has the
same results regardless when they are given. The results should be consistent with past
tests of the same types no matter the length of time in between intervals. Naturally in
actual practice, tests are never perfectly reliable as first & foremost changes can occur
over the clients as time goes on. Its just that reliability can be increased if tests are
administered & scored according to standard. Now there are 2 types of Reliability. First
is Test-Retest Reliability, where there is expectation of consistency of results calculated
from the correlation of the first administered performance with the second administered
performance. This is usually done with the same form of test in between a 24-hour
interval. Then there’s Interrater Reliability/ Alternate or Parallel forms (the term is
dependent of its source). Despite its 2 names, the gist is in the latter name. It requires 2
forms of test with the same validity. The sample/client is administered with the first form
of test & then assessed with an alternate/ parallel form of the test. The 2 tests can be
done in immediate succession as long as results of the 2 are correlated to get the
estimate. There are also 2 types of Standard Errors. First is Standard Error of
Measurements. This is meant to provide estimation of the range of scores that would be
obtained if the test is taken again. Meanwhile Standard Error of Difference enables the
calculation of the exact amount of difference needed between the score. Now there is
an interesting note between reliability & validity that go hand in hand. It was said that
validity coefficient is often found to be lower than reliability. The reason behind is that
the former sets the limit on how valid the test could be.
We now move on to the next 3: Objectivity, Norms & Practicability. Objectivity is
the degree to which there is elimination of a scorer’s personal opinion, bias or
judgement regarding ability, skill, knowledge, trait or potentiality to be measured &
evaluated. It is also the degree to which equally competent test takers get the same
results. Objective-based test measure/ evaluate the entire human development in 3
domains: Cognitive, Active and Psychomotor. Meanwhile, Norms can be summed up in
two-words: “Average Standards”. At its vaguest, it is the set of score obtained by whom
it is intended. At its wordiest, it is just the average scores obtained by the reference
sample group that provides the basic for interpreting any individual score. Finally,
there’s Practicability which just meant that a test should neither be too lengthy nor too
difficult to answer & score.
Espanol, Chunelle Maria Victoria C. September 24,2021
Source:
 S, R. (2016, August 17). 4 Main Characteristics of a Good Test. Psychology
Discussion. https://www.psychologydiscussion.net/intelligence/4-main-
characteristics-of-a-good-test/2040
 Sharma, A. (2014, January 31). 5 Main Characteristics of a Good Psychological Test.
Psychology Discussion. https://www.psychologydiscussion.net/notes/5-main-
characteristics-of-a-good-psychological-test/734
 Cohen, R. & Swerdlik, M. (2018). What’s a “Good test”?. In Jasmine Stanton (9th
Edition), Psychological Testing and Assessment: An Introduction to Tests &
Measurement (pg. 122-123). NY: McGraw-Hill Education
 Lumen. (n.d.). Characteristics of Psychological Assessments. Abnormal Psychology.
Retrieved on September 24, 2021 from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/hvcc-
abnormalpsychology/chapter/3-4-characteristics-of-psychological-assessments/
 Whiston, S. (2017). Reliability. In Loose-leaf (5 th Edition), Principles and Applications
of Assessment in Counseling (pgs. 43-44, 48-51). Boston: Cengage Learning
 Whiston, S. (2017). Validity and Item Analysis. In Loose-leaf (5 th Edition), Principles
and Applications of Assessment in Counseling (pg. 56-58, 62-65). Boston: Cengage
Learning
 Jenkins, A. (2019, October 31). What is Psychological Testing?. All Kinds of Therapy.
https://www.allkindsoftherapy.com/blog/what-is-psychological-testing
 Doyle, T. (2016, August 10). The Benefits of Psychological Assessments and When
to Use Them. Psych Scene Hub.
https://psychscenehub.com/psychinsights/psychological-assessment-introduction/
 Advameg Inc. (2021). Psychological Test. In Encyclopedia of Children’s Health.
http://www.healthofchildren.com/P/Psychological-Tests.html

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Espanol, Chunelle Maria Victoria C.

A (Psychological) Assessment test is a tool or instrument or equipment that

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